The Annapolis Story

West Point has a sober, rational and perfectionist approach to football. Says one of several slogans on Army's dressing-room wall: "There is no substitute for work." Navy's slogan last week was simpler: "Beat Army!" By doing just that, Navy managed the upset of the year.

From the opening kickoff, the Middies behaved as if they had completely forgotten their own miserable season (won 2, lost 6), Army's 28-game unbeaten streak and the fact that they were 20-point underdogs in the betting odds. In the first half, a team that had been flubbing assignments all year held Army to exactly three yards by rushing. When Army took to the air, Navy defensemen swarmed over the receivers; before the afternoon was over they reached up and snatched three passes out of the confident reach of Army Left End Dan Foldberg, team captain and All-American (see below). The Navy offense, led by Quarterback Robert ("Zug") Zastrow, began to roll up first downs.

Sputter & Stall. It took a while for the crowd of 101,000 in Philadelphia Municipal Stadium (and for millions of TV and radio fans) to realize that a fired-up Navy team was playing with the fantastic conviction that it could actually beat Army. But the crowd began to get Navy's idea early in the second quarter. After recovering an Army fumble, the Middies ground out 33 yards in four plays, with Zastrow barging the last seven through a barndoor hole in the Army line for a touchdown (see cut).

Army roared back upfield with the following kickoff, only to sputter and stall again as Navy stopped the Cadet runners dead in their tracks. In the closing minutes of the half, Navy went 63 yards for touchdown No. 2, with Zastrow heaving a looping 30-yard pass to End Jim Baldinger, who clawed it away from an Army man in the end zone.

Everybody had the idea by now. Whooping and howling, the Middie cheering section hoisted a banner large enough to be read by the Cadet corps across the field. In exultant paraphrase of the title of a current movie, The West Point Story, the banner read: NOW PLAYING--THE ANNAPOLIS STORY.

"We've Got It." Very impressive, conceded the skeptics, but could Navy hold off an infuriated Army in the second half? Six times in the second half the Army crashed its way into scoring territory, once got as far as the three-yard line, but Navy held. Once Army downed Zug Zastrow behind his own goal for a two-point safety. But that was all. At game's end, there was Navy's fantastic notion right on the Scoreboard: Navy 14, Army 2.

In the dressing room after the game, battered Navy players howled, chanted, hugged each other. It was a great day for the Navy. It was also a great day for round-faced Eddie Erdelatz, 37, coaching his first year at Annapolis. Said Eddie: "I've said all along, and still say, that the great thing is spirit, and we've got it."

Other football winners last week:

P: Oklahoma over Oklahoma A & M, 41-14, its 31st victory in a row, to join Princeton as one of the two top unbeaten, untied teams of the season and fortify the Sooners' claim to No. 1 U.S. honors.

P: Texas Christian over Southern Methodist, 27-13, to hand All-American Kyle Rote & Co. their fourth loss in five games.

P: Southern California over Notre Dame, 9-7, leaving the Irish with four victories, four defeats and a tie, worst Notre Dame season in 17 years.

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