This is the continuation of our podcast series that looks back chronologically at every Reitz Football game ever played.
PantherPlus members click here for the Complete Game Report
Podcast transcript:
Hello everyone welcome to this week’s edition of the ReitzFootball.com Podcast presented by Reis Tires, where we go in chronological order to recap EVERY game in the history of Reitz High School Football. I’m your host, Dan Engler.
In last week’s episode, we wrapped up 1920 and took a quick peak at 1921. You can listen to that episode and all our podcasts by going to ReitzFootball.com and clicking on PODCAST in the top menu.
The 1921 season is here and the Panthers have been prepping for Princeton in the debut of the Bowl. Known early on as the F.J.R. athletic field, our research found the first use of the term “Reitz Bowl” in November.
From Sept. 22 in the Courier: “The athletic field and stadium at Francis Joseph Reitz high school will be completed by Oct. 15. The stadium will be ready for use when the first football game of the season is held Oct. 1 although the structure will not be completed.” The article went on to say “With the exception of a small stretch, the concrete wall which will serve to keep the hills from sliding on the playing field, is completed.”
With the field ready for use, the Panthers were excited to host Princeton, which in that era was one of the top teams in the pocket.
Too excited, it seemed.
“The Reitz gridders were evidently over-eager to win the game and were unnerved,” according to the Oct. 2 Courier. “Emerson [Lynch] grabbed and dropped a forward pass standing on his own goal line. Lynch again missed a twenty yard pass from Woods that would have resulted in a touchdown had he caught it.”
The Panthers’ only score came in the third quarter on a 15-yard Ralph Woods run, but the Panthers were beaten, 14-7.
Reitz dropped to 0-1 while Princeton improved to 1-0.
And while the Panthers might have lost their first game at the Bowl, they haven’t lost many. Through the end of the 2018 season, their record at the Bowl is an amazing 407-138-14. That breaks down to a win percentage of 74.1%. That’s basically winning three out of every four games.
Woods’ touchdown helped the senior set some more records. He now single-handedly owned the career touchdown record with four, and now shared a tie with William Reid and Jewel Sutton for 24 career points.
Next week, the Panthers head to Kentucky to battle the Owensboro Red Devils.
Remember, this podcast is brought to you free of charge by our friends at Reis Tires. As the series continues, we’ll eventually cover all 1,000+ games. With every edition, we’ll preview and recap the next game in chronological order.
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Thanks for listening. Do you have questions or comments? Please email me at info@reitzfootball.com.
Until next time, this is Dan Engler with ReitzFootball.com. Go Panthers!
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