The year 1928 will be remembered with sorrow with the untimely death of Perry D. Rhoem.  Sadly, he was killed by a lightning strike on the 4th of July.  He had been a towering figure in New Orleans Prep sports for 20 years.  Who knows what else he might have done had he been allowed to live out a normal lifespan?

 

We are again indebted to our stalwart reporter, Dick Daigre, for doing the important leg work and digging up the story of the 1928 game.

 

Going into the 1928 Holy Cross game, Jesuit sported a 4-0-1 record.  The wins came over St. Aloysius 31-0, Bay St. Louis 49-6, St. Stanislaus 19-18, and Reserve 46-0.  The tie was with Spring Hill, 13-13. 

 

From the Times-Picayune:

 

Three thousand frenzied fans, occupying the double-decked stands at the second Class A contest to determine the city championship, peered through a balmy, springlike afternoon Monday to see the Jesuit High school Blue Jays snatch a belated 13 to 6 victory from as valiant a band of pigskinners as ever wore the Blue and Gold of Holy Cross college.

 

After a raggedly-played, uninteresting first half full of fumbles and exchanges of punts that was enlivened only by Tom Daigle's thrilling 35-yard run for the Jesuits' first touchdown, the two clubs opened up with everything at their command in the third and fourth quarters.  For the space of about an hour, spectators leaped and implored as Johnny Lynch's courageous Micks came from behind in a brilliant display of forward passing to throw the Blue and White stands into a panic and turn decisive defeat into 'anybody's game.

 

Three times those devastating aerial heaves from the tricky 'Midget' Meyer to Left End Schloegel struck fear into Jay ranks in the third period.  Only once they crossed that final white line, but one touchdown pass was dropped with a clear field ahead, another was missed by inches and the extra point was missed by the smallest of margins on an overhead toss.  And then, with the minutes gliding along and the score still 6-6, it looked like it was going to remain that way.  Cross playing inspired ball behind a true Spartan in Captain Eddie Amyette.  The Micks' line was holding like a leech until lanky Charlie Kyle broke through deep in Mick territory, blocked one of Amyette's boots that were getting away in remarkable fashion all day.  Harry White pounced on the coveted oval on the goal line, it bounced away and, in another mad scramble Leonard Mock recovered for the six points, enough to win.

 

To Amyette, who went the route despite being injured in the first quarter, goes the lion's share for the fall's biggest prep upset, another link in the chain of evidence proving that the underdog is the most dangerous foe and that there are no more weak teams in the city."

 

 

Following is the story of the 1928 game as it appeared in the Times Picayune.  
The game was played on Monday, November 12, 1928.
Copyright © 1928, the Times-Picayune Publishing Co.

BLOCKED PUNT GIVES JESUITS WIN OVER UNLUCKY CROSS, 13-6

ED AMYETTE, DAIGLE STAR IN THRILLER

Micks Display Valiant Spirit, 2 Touchdowns Nipped, and Lose on “Breaks”

By Gene Thatcher

Sensational, grueling football games and the Loyola University Stadium seem to be walking hand in hand this season.

Three thousand frenzied fans, occupying the double-decked stands at the second Class A contest to decide the city championship, peered down through a balmy, springlike afternoon Monday to see the Jesuit High school Blue-Jays snatch a belated 13 to 6 victory from as valiant a band of pigskinners as ever wore the Blue and Gold of Holy Cross college.

After a raggedly-played, uninteresting first half full of fumbles and exchanges of punts that was enlivened only by Tom Daigle’s thrilling 35-yard run for the Jesuits’ first touchdown, the two clubs opened up with everything at their command in the third and fourth quarters.  For the space of about an hour, spectators yelled, leaped and implored, as Johnny Lynch’s courageous Micks came from behind in a brilliant display of forward passing to throw the Blue and White stands into a panic and turn a decisive defeat into “anybody’s game.”

Passes Strike Fear

 Three times those devastating aerial heaves from the tricky “Midget” Meyer to Left End Schloegel struck fear into Jay ranks in the third period.  Only once they crossed that final white line, but one touchdown was dropped with a clear field ahead, another was missed by inched and the extra point failed by the smallest of margins on an overhead toss.

And then, with the minutes gliding along and the score still 6-6, it looked like it was going to remain that way.  Cross, playing inspired ball behind a true Spartan in Captain Eddie Amyette, was holding like a leech until lanky Charlie Kyle broke through deep in Mick territory, blocked one of Amyette’s boots that were getting away in remarkable fashion all day.  Harry White pounced on the coveted oval on the goal line; it bounced away and, in another mad scramble, Leonard Mock recovered for the six points, enough to win.

To Amyette, who went the route despite being injured in the first quarter, goes the lion’s share for the fall’s biggest prep upset, another link in the chain of evidence proving that the underdog is the most dangerous foe and that there are no more weak teams in the city.

In Every Plunge

It was the Holy Cross captain who was at the bottom of every line plunge, winching as pain after pain ran through his sturdy frame.  It was Amyette who time after time punted out of danger when the Jesuits threatened through the elusive sprints of Mr. Thomas Daigle and it was Amyette who opened the way for Mick bucks in the last half that saw the losers having a little the better of it all-around.

Daigle was the boy who ruined Holy Cross’ chances of victory, despite the Spartan-like efforts of Cau, Schloegel, Amyette, LaCroix, Schwartz, Rabel, Meyer and others.  Daigle’s electrifying dashes, in which he eluded tackler after tackler with his speed and change of pace, nearly always found him out in the open, where he had little difficulty outrunning any Mick on the gridiron.  And when he was stopped in the last half, he had the stamina left to break loose again in the fourth quarter that barely missed for another touchdown.  He was the only Jay to consistently gain though “Bucky” Harris and Daspit sometimes got away for short smashes.

Jay Birds Outrushed

On the Jesuit line, the work of acting captain “Sonny” Winters, Joe Fazzio, Leppert and others were big factors during those early minutes when the Jaybirds easily outrushed their opponents and repulsed every offensive play launched by the downtown boys.  But Cau was tackling like a demon, Schloegel uncannily catching passes, Meyer throwing them like a veteran from a deceptive Notre Dame formation and others were fighting mad.

 It certainly was a contest to be compared to the Jesuit-Spring Hill ands Jesuit-Stanislaus melees, though it didn’t show the Jesuits in their best form.  But the Micks, who strode off the gridiron with tear-dimmed eyes, shouldn’t feel disgraced at the end of a contest that found the Jaybirds probably with many thoughts of their mistakes. It will be a new Jesuit team from now on, with the Easton classic just around the corner.

First Half Dull

The first half, full of short and long penalties, plenty of dandy punting by Amyette, Harris and Kyle, wasn’t attractive enough to hardly keep a fellow from falling to sleep.  Only the twists off-tackle, terminal dashes and returns of punts by Daigle, which paved the way for his touchdown sprint, were noticeable.  Fumbling, too, almost ruined the Micks once in the first quarter when it, together with a five-yard penalty, enabled the Jays to reach the seven-yard line before Cross braced and Amyette punted out of danger.  This followed the touchdown and LaCroix’ blocking of Daigle’s attempted place-kick for the extra point, all of which happened in the first eight minutes of play.

One of Amyette’s punts was blocked here, but the Jays were offsides and a touchdown was averted.

The second half started off much in the same way until Meyer suddenly switched to the air.  From his own territory, he flipped a long toss to Cau, who galloped to the Jesuits’ 33-yard line.  After two line plays availed nothing, Meyer sneaked back again and deftly picked out Schloegel in the open and Schloegel ran to the two and one-half-yard line against a bewildered Jesuit defense.

Jesuits Brace

Here the Jays braced to four times throw back the Micks.  On three sneak plays through center, with the Jesuit defense massed, Meyer was inches shy of the last white line when the group was separated.  It seemed as if “Midget” went over on at least two lunges, but the ball always was in front of the goal.  “Jimmy” Duggan’s line plunge was also shy, and Harris punted back to safer terrain.

But the Mick, so closely thwarted, opened up with a vengeance.  After a pass from Meyer to Schloegel was barely missed, the latter took in the next toss on the dead run and was freed as he crossed the line for the tying points.  A pass from Meyer to Duggan was almost completed for the seventh point right on the goal line.

The winners threatened again on a dandy return of a punt by Daigle, but Cross held.

The Jays began fighting harder then, with their backs to the wall against a foe that was not looked upon as such a hard test, and Daigle squeezed through a seemingly impossible maze of Micks to run over 40 yards to put the oval on the two-yard line.

Repulse Three Plunges

But the Micks, battling like fiends and not willing to concede anything in the battle of two evenly-matched clubs, repulsed three mighty plunges at that line – Amyette turning in heroic work.  On the last play, Daspit fumbled a sort of bad pass from center and Amyette again punted of danger. 

The ball stayed in Cross territory through nice running by Daigle and Daspit after previous attempts had lost ground before the Micks suffered another “bad break.”  On a fumble behind the line of scrimmage by Daigle, after long gains by Daspit and Daigle, on a play which the officials ruled as a lateral pass, Schwartz scooped up the oval and ran 80 yards for a touchdown that was called back.  It was here that the Cross defense wavered just an instant and the Jays viciously broke through to block the punt and win as mentioned heretofore.

L. Smith’s place-kick was good for the thirteenth point and the game ended not long afterwards, with Duggan and Meyer still threatening with their passes and both sides giving their all.

Line-ups and Summary:
Holy Cross (6)		Jesuits (13)
Schloegel	L.E.	Leppert
Rabel	L.T.	Fazzio
LaCroix	L.G.	H. Winters (c)
Amyette (c)	C.	Brown
Booth	R.G.	Martin
Schwartz	R.T.	Page
Cau	R.E.	L. Mock
Meyer	Q.B.	Harris
Duggan	L.H.B.	Daigle
Beach	R.H.B.	Daspit
Seeber	F.B.	Smith

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