Nov 4th, 1938: Quilty Comes Off The Bench

I think I  saw something similar in an episode of Coach.

Now that most of the senior football championship summaries are collected, it's time to move on to semi and quarter finals.

The first sudden death playoff game at the senior high school level came in 1934 when Glebe and St. Patrick's were tied at the top of the standings at the end of regular play. Rather than leave it to some tie-breaker, the two teams met for the third time a few days later after having split their regular season meetings at a win apiece. Perhaps in (eventual) response to that situation, a shorter regular season with a semi-final playoff format was added in 1937.

The 1938 playoffs include an interesting anecdote in which St. Patrick's Johnny Quilty went from spectator to key contributor. 

Down 5-0, Quilty's efforts set up the tying score and an interception late in the game sealed the victory.

In light of how often he is mentioned in the strip above, I wish Hazel's first name had been provided.  

In any event, while the playoff system was still in its infancy and the forward pass was still somewhat viewed as a novelty, it seems that roster rules had yet to be fully worked out as well.

1937: New Edinburgh Rough Riders Clinch JCFL Championship Against...No One.

For the most part, the smaller amateur local leagues that emerged between the 1920s and 1960s tended to lack real competitiveness. Often, one team was particularly dominant and pulled away from the pack in no time.

The 1937 Junior City Football League season was a relatively rare exception. It turned into two-horse race that unfortunately thudded out at the end. Check out the final standings. 

New Edinburgh beat St. Pat's in game two but an upset loss to Gladstone by New Edinburgh opened the door for St. Patrick's to sneak back into the race. And, as you would hope as a spectator, it all came to a head in the final weekend of the regular season!

First, St. Patrick's defeated Gladstone which put them in first place with their 13 points in the standings.

St. Patrick's then had to stand back and pray for a miracle in which Strathcona, they of the 17 points scored in eight games to that point, would upset the strong New Edinburgh club.

Strathcona didn't put up a fight at all. Literally. They refused to play. And with the game having been moved to St. Patrick's field, the team wishing for a miracle instead got to watch New Edinburgh score a touchdown unopposed and in doing so, even bump one of their players from the scoring title. Harsh!

The player bumped in that scoring race, by the way, was Johnny Quilty, son of Hall of Fame member Silver Quilty. 

The whole episode comes off like a bit of a dick move but New Edinburgh had defeated St. Patrick's twice during the regular season and tied with them once. St. Patrick's ended with a 6-2-1 record as a result.

It's hard to argue that New Edinburgh didn't deserve first place and wouldn't have secured it anyway by defeating toothless Strathcona, a team they'd clobbered twice already by a combined score of 33-00, with that much at stake.

But if you were a St. Patrick's man at the time, that still had to sting. 😬