1929  Bearcats

1929


DHS                     OPP

2  @Cross Plains     0

0  @Hamilton         13

L  Stephenville *     W

6  Strawn                 0

0  @Dublin               6

2  Gorman                7

7  Desdemona        7

6 @Comanche      19

 

The 1929 Bearcats

Captain: Leland Nabors


Red Corbell

Jack Donahue

Albert Cozby

Jack Pearson

W.S. Sneed

Clarence Lightfoot

O.B. Reed

Fitzgerald Terry

Red Wheat

Loraine woods

Arrian Grizzelle

Merton Bell

Robert Terrill

Elmer Timmons

Hap Sides

Billie Sneed

_______ McIver

_______ Scott

_______ Morris

_______ Parsons

_______ Leazer

Mgr. Harry Pearson

CROSS PLAINS

   In the two previous meetings (1925 and 1926), De Leon outscored Cross Plains 157- 6 but the score dropped like the stock market in 1929 and De Leon won only 2-0.  With Jack Pearson injured and not playing and with absolutely no substitutions made during the game, De Leon was able to penetrate the Buffalo 20 five times but fumbled the ball away several times.  Cross Plains only penetrated the De Leon 20 once when they blocked a Red Corbell punt and then moved to the three before the Bearcats stopped them.  De Leon got its safety in the third quarter.


HAMILTON

   The Hamilton game was described as very slow and colorless.  Hamilton got the 13-0 win, scoring once in the third and once in the fourth.  De Leon lost Hap Sides to a knee injury.


STEPHENVILLE

   No details of the game have been located.


STRAWN

   The injury bug continued to take its toll as Merton Bell, the De Leon quarterback broke his nose in the third quarter but not before scoring the winning touchdown.  In an unusual call in the third quarter, a De Leon halfback pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage by Strawn and was ruled a fumble.


DUBLIN

    With everyone expecting the Bearcats to lose big to the Lions, De Leon surprised the experts by driving to the Dublin goal line three times even though they failed to push it in.  Dublin scored early in the game when De Leon punted.  The ball rolled out of bounds at the Dublin 8 but De Leon was ruled offsides.  Dublin blocked the ensuing punt and took it in for the score.


GORMAN

   On Armistice Day, De Leon took on one of its bitter rivals.  Gorman took a quick lead with their runner going around end for a touchdown followed by a two point conversion as the runner followed the guard into the end zone.    

   Then, according to the Gorman Progress, the Panthers were “strapped by one of the rawest rulings we have ever heard of by an official in the plain face of the rules (when he) declared that to stop a man by the simplest of blocking was clipping, and would draw from then on, a fifty (yes fifty) yard penalty, if he could give that much.”

   In the second half, De Leon got a first down at the Panther 12.  The next play went up the middle for 4 yards to the 8, but from there the Bearcats could move no closer and Gorman took over on downs.  Losing yardage back to their own 3, the Panther quarterback tried to run up the middle but was caught in the end zone by Grizzelle for a safety.

    Gorman apparently had another chance for a score as it moved to near the De Leon 10.  Gorman’s Morris caught a pass and apparently gained enough yardage for the first down as he ran ten yards with a Bearcat defender hanging on around his neck.  But again the referee ruled against the Panthers, and moved the ball back to a point that nullified half the gain and De Leon took over.   The Progress gave no details of the scoring but certainly expressed its view on the officiating.  The final score was 7-2 in Gorman’s favor.   They were probably looking for a copy of the rule book to mail to those refs.


     DESDEMONA

   “The game last Friday between De Leon and Desdemona (at De Leon) was a slow, uninteresting struggle....” that ended in a 7-7 tie, according t the Free Press.  “De Leon should have won by several touchdowns but penalties kept the Bearcats out of the end zone before a handful of fans.”  May Streety recorded the score in her diary as being 0-0.


COMANCHE

De Leon did not even get a first down until they scored late in the game.  Comanche won 19-6 as Leland Nabors was out with a serious illness.  The annual exes game was played in December to benefit him.