11/19/1910 - at Wake Forest

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Though the Red and White's original schedule had a game at Wake Forest scheduled for September 24th as their season opener in early September, when Wake Forest finally released a football schedule, North Carolina A&M was not on their schedule on September 24th; instead, the Baptists were planning on opening the season against Warrenton High School. One of the oldest schools in the state, Warrenton High School opened in 1786 as the Warrenton Male Academy before changing its name to Warrenton High in 1897 and becoming coed in the early 1900s. Wake Forest went on to take down Warrenton 17-0, playing a number of their men to get the most out of the game (News and Observer, September 9th, 1910, p. 3; The (Raleigh) Evening Times, September 23rd, 1910, p. 3).

The reason for the change? Wake Forest's coach, "Reddy" Rowe, didn't arrive until September 19th. As such, the Old Gold and Black were woefully underprepared to play a game of A&M's caliber, and arranged to warm-up games. The cancelation likely frustrated the Farmers, as it took away their chance to get a practice game in before their all-important Georgetown game, however the change of date worked out; November 19th had long been an open date on their schedule (News and Observer, September 9th, 1910, p. 3).

Wake Forest's second warm-up game was against Horner Military Academy, a local prep school based out of Oxford, North Carolina. Though originally scheduled for October 1st, the game against Horner was delayed by a week due to injuries to the Oxford boys (Greensboro Daily News, October 6th, 1910, p. 2). On October 8th, the Baptists defeated their second high school of the season 28-0.


A photo of Wake Forest's team from The Howler, 1911, p. 126.

That would be the final win of the Baptists' season; following the Horner game, Wake Forest lost five consecutive away games, falling to the Norfolk Artillery Blues 0-31, North Carolina 0-37, South Carolina 0-6, and The Citadel 5-9. Their last game before facing the Farmers was an exciting neutral site game against the U.S.S. Franklin played in Durham which Wake Forest lost 0-11.

Though their first home game in over a month, local interest for their matchup with the Aggies was not very high: everyone knew Wake Forest was going to lose. Raleigh papers scarcely mentioned the game, and the reported crowd of 600 is one of the smallest recorded attendance numbers in A&M history. Fans of both teams were focusing more on their respective Thanksgiving games; similarly, both teams chose to play mostly subs in the hopes of protecting their starting lineup for their game next Thursday.


Roster

A&M Wake Forest
Seifert RE Robinson
Glenn RT Holding
Floyd RG Dickenson
Bray (Capt.)* C Ramseur
Sykes LG Harwood
Hurtt LT Parker
Stafford LE Highsmith
Hartsell QB Aydlette
Robertson RHB Utley (Capt.)
Cool LHB Stringfield
Von Eberstein FB Broughton
Davis SUB Bagwell
Jeffries SUB Carter
Dunn SUB Faucette
Sherman SUB Green
Clark SUB Betts
Plyler SUB Dowd
White SUB Riddick
Hall SUB McBrayer
Spence SUB
McIver SUB
Sarratt SUB
Edwards SUB

Source 1, Source 2

* Acting captain, on account of Hartsell's lingering sickness


Period Time Description NCSU WF
1st Score at End of 1st Period 23 0
2nd Score at End of 2nd Period 28 0
3rd unk WF - Utley - 30 yd Field Goal - unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk 28 3

NCSU Opponent
Rushing TDs (Assumed) Robertson (3), Hartsell (1), Von Eberstein (1) none
Passing TDs (Assumed) none none
Receiving TDs (Assumed) none none
Defensive TDs (Assumed) none none
PATs Bray (3/5) none
2PT: N/A prior to 1958 N/A prior to 1958
FGs none Utley (1/1)
Safety: none none
Game Notes:
Kick Off Time: unknown - 11/19/1910 - at Wake Forest
Length: 36 (10 / 10 / 8 / 8) - Duration: unk
Attendance: 600
Location: Athletic Field - Wake Forest, NC
Temperature: ???
Weather: ???
Wind: ???

Like the Richmond game, this game was not described in great detail; the game summary published in Red and White ran less than a page, while Wake Forest's Student never gave a post-game summary at all. Thankfully, however, all surviving descriptions of the game line up well with each other; it was widely described as "rather slow and uninteresting."

The bulk of the Farmers' scoring came in the first quarter. A&M received the ball to start the game and scored their first touchdown within a minute of play; another touchdown was made on a 60 yard run by Hartsell, who played just one quarter in the first game he had participated in since the Georgetown game. By the end of the period, the Red and White had made four touchdowns and three goal kicks for 23 points. Throughout the quarter, the Baptists recovered a number of A&M fumbles, however none of them resulted in anything of note. In the start of the second period, several A&M starters were pulled; that group still managed one more touchdown. They again missed the touchdown, making the score 28-0 going into halftime. Three of the touchdowns were made by Robertson, and a fourth was made by Von Eberstein, in addition to the aforementioned score by Hartsell. Bray made all of the goal kicks.

The start of the second half, which had only 8 minute quarters, saw an entirely new A&M team composed scrub players. This quarter saw the only score made by the Baptists; reported to be the only time A&M's end zone was threatened, Wake Forest moved the ball steadily up the field, primarily on forward passes to Faucette, a fact which lead some papers criticized A&M's inability to stop the pass. Eventually, the Old Gold and Black had the ball at A&M's 30-yard line when Captain Utley made "a perfect drop kick" for a field goal and 3 points near the end of the third period. No scoring was made in the remainder of the game.

The flow of the game varied drastically from quarter to quarter. During the first half, the Farmers swept Wake Forest "completely off her feet": Wake Forest failed to earn a single first down. In the second half, the scrub team played a sloppier game and turned over the ball numerous times, though it was noted that the fourth quarter was mostly a tossup. Throughout the game, however, the Aggies stuck to "straight football," only using end runs or a few fake line plunges.

For their part, Wake Forest's poor showing was not entirely representative of the two teams' comparative strengths: as mentioned in the introduction, Wake Forest began the game without four starters (namely N. B. Broughton, John C. Riddick, Howard Huntley, and Robert R. Savage), and took more out as the game went on. Stringfield, who was widely reported to be one of Wake Forest's best players, was a brand new player. They were still able to put up a fight against A&M's scrub team, getting down to A&M's 10-yard line twice in the third quarter, according to one report.

With such a large rotation of players filtering through the game, it was difficult to choose a star. A&M's starting backfield during the first half garnered praise for its ability to move the ball, though the work of Hartsell, Stafford, and Robertson in particular was noted, as was Dunn's play in the second half. For Wake Forest, Utley was the most noted player, through Robinson, Betts, Faucette, Highsmith, and Dows "also deserve mention."

Wake Forest preserving its team for their Thanksgiving game against Davidson proved fruitless: the Baptists were annihilated 32-0 in their final game of the season, held in Charlotte. It should be noted that the Davidson team of 1910 was one of the best teams in the state, having defeated UNC 6-0 in Charlotte over a month earlier in the season; they lost only to Washington & Lee and Virginia Polytechnic.

Last updated: 7/4/2024