This picture and story were taken from the 1914 Sault Ste. Marie High School annual. The Sault High School spirit was strong even back then. – Laurie Davis
Men Receiving S’s
WM. MacLachlan (Captain) Right Guard, James Sharpe – Quarterback, Clifford Everett – Left Guard, A. Weston – Right Half, Jay Parsille – Right Tackle, Robt. McCarthy – Left Half, Don Bell – Right End, Harold Rye – Left Half and Fullback, Fred Moffat – Guard, Frank Goetz – Left Tackle, Angus Goetz – Guard, Frank Laundy – Left End, Alex Campbell – Fullback, WM. Munro – Center.
Men Receiving R’s
Chesser Campbell, Earnest Tate, WM. Newmark.
On Sept. 5th, Captain MacLachlan issued his call for football candidates and received a prompt response from last year’s veterans and quite a number of new men. After about a month of hard practice, Coach Barber had a team in shape for the first game, which was played upon the home grounds with Ishpeming High School.
The game was called at two-thirty o’clock, and Ishpeming having won the toss, decided to receive the ball, while the Soo chose the east goal. Laundy kicked off and Ishpeming’s man was downed in his tracks on the fifteen-yard line. Ishpeming punted, and the Soo received the ball, and in the next minute of play scored its first touchdown. At no stage of the game was the Soo’s goal in danger while they scored on their opponents at will. The final score of the game was 98 to 0.
On October 11th, the Soo High School team added another victory to its record for this season by defeating Alpena and showing that they were at least in the class with some of the Lower Peninsula football teams. The field was wet but never-the-less the game was fast. Alpena had the advantage over the Soo in weight, but were very weak on passes, seldom making an effective play by this method while the Soo’s greatest ground gainer was the forward pass. The game was hard-fought from beginning to end, the Soo finally winning by a score of 24 to 7.
The next game of the season was with Escanaba played on October 18th. Although this was Escanaba’s second game they came heralded as prospective Upper Peninsula champions. The preceding Saturday they had played Gladstone and shut that team out and piled up a score of 133 to 0. The Soo went after them in great style and at the end of the game had rolled up a score of 64, while Escanaba had scored but one touchdown and failed to kick a goal. The final score was 64 to 6.
The Friday following the game with Escanaba, the Soo High School team journeyed to Newberry determined to mark off scores with their old rivals. The team was accompanied by about one hundred rooters who outyelled the whole Newberry Crowd. The game was the Soo’s from the start, Newberry scoring its only touchdown in the last quarter by recovering a fumble behind the Soo’s line. The final score was 54 to 6.
On November 1st, the Soo High School team won its fifth victory, defeating Houghton High School by a score of 25 to 7, thereby becoming undisputed champions of the Upper Peninsula. The field was covered with six inches of snow, but nonetheless, a crowd of twelve hundred spectators turned out for this game. The Houghton team put up a splendid game throughout. Their line bucks were irresistible and would have created havoc with anything but a well-trained team. This was the second time that they had been scored on in two years, but they took their defeat like true sportsmen. The Soo team put up its best game. Their line was not as heavy, as that of the visitors, and consequently, most of Houghton’s gains were made by line bucks. The final score was 25 to 7.
The Soo High School Football team continued its series of victories by defeating Charlevoix by a score of 72 to 0. Charlevoix had been heralded as a wonder and it was evident that they had expected an easy game. When placed in the field, the visitors failed to show either the speed or the endurance that the Soo men had been accustomed to, and in the last quarter particularly, the Soo went through their line with little trouble. The field was very heavy, which accounts for the many fumbles made. Charlevoix could not hold the Soo for more than three downs at a time, and their backfield seldom penetrated the Soo line. The subs were all tried out in this game and gave a good account of themselves.
Outweighed but not outplayed, and fighting hard against odds the Soo High School team yielded the championship of the State of Michigan to Detroit Central High School on Thanksgiving day. It is no disgrace, that defeat, indeed the people of this city should be proud of the showing made by their warriors against a team that outweighed them fifteen pounds to a man and whose individual players were better fitted to their positions than the Soo men. Coach Stocking declared that the work done by the Soo men was as good if not better than that done by his own men. The determination and grit shown by every member of the team was only surpassed by the flashes of brilliant playing. The forward pass brought Central most of her touchdowns. Trainer Patterson stated after the game that never had he seen such spirit and pluckiness as shown by the Soo men in the last half of the game. Time was taken out four times for Central and not once for the men they defeated. The final score was 49 to 0. In the last two years, the Soo has had practically the same team, playing twelve games and losing, but two.
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