Kentucky time machine: Re-publishing all 10 UK football bowl victories

Editor’s Note: The Herald-Leader is launching a series re-publishing the game stories from Kentucky’s 10 football bowl victories in chronological order. These stories appear, with some light editing, as they were written at the time in the Herald, the Leader or the Herald-Leader. We hope you enjoy them.

Dec. 6, 1947

KENTUCKY 24, VILLANOVA 14

Great Lakes Bowl at Cleveland Stadium

Sunday Herald-Leader headline:

Kentucky Scores 24-14 Victory Over Villanova in Great Lakes Bowl Inaugural; Cats Lead Throughout In Contest Witnessed By Only 14,900 Fans

Improved aerial and ground attacks, alertness and hard blocking and tackling gave Kentucky’s Wildcat eleven a 24-14 victory over a heavier, hard-hitting Villanova College team in the Great Lakes Bowl inaugural before a disappointing crowd of 14,900 fans.

Coach Paul Bryant’s Kentuckians marked up their victory margin with a 27-yard field goal by George Blanda in the initial period and a 29-yard touchdown run by slim Jim Howe in the third, then left it up to sophomore Bill Boller to offset Villanova’s two scores in the final quarter with a pair of touchdowns of his own.

After both teams had punched at each other’s line during most of the third period without any great degree of success, the Wildcats took over on the Pennsylvanians’ 46-yard line on a punt return by Boller and immediately started a drive toward the goal line.

Blanda, who was in his best passing form of the year, completed five aerials in succession to Howe and Boller to give the Kentuckians a first down on the Villanova 16. Then Boller shot off tackle for 6 yards and it appeared that the Wildcats had a touchdown in the bag.

But a pass from Blanda to Charlie Bentley fell incomplete and then another pass from Boller lost nine yards and the Blue Grass boys were faced with fourth-and-13 to go with the ball resting on the 19-yard line.

Blanda Boots Field Goal

Blanda dropped back to attempt a field goal and with Boller holding the pigskin on the 27-yard stripe made a perfect boot through the uprights to score three points for the Kentucky cause and put the Cats in front to stay in their first postseason endeavor in gridiron history.

The play ended the first quarter of the ball game and big Bob Gain, a Kentucky tackle, opened the second period by kicking off to Bob Polidor, one of Villianova’s outstanding performers of the afternoon.

Polidor returned the kick to his own 23, but the Pennsylvania eleven was unable to crash the Kentucky forward wall and were forced to kick with one yard to go on fourth down.

From that point on neither team was able to keep its offensive machinery running efficiently enough to reach the end zone, although both elevens added excitement to the game with shows of aerial power on several occasions.

Phelps Catches Passes

The half ended as Blanda shot a pass to Don (Dopey) Phelps, a speedy Wildcat halfback used sparingly in today’s battle, which was good for a first down on the Villanova 47-yard stripe.

Coach Bryant’s boys managed to get themselves in a hole at the outset of the third quarter when John Siano’s kickoff was allowed to roll dead on the Wildcat two. But a booming 50-yard boot by Blanda and good tackling by Kentucky linemen saved the situation when Bill Doherty was dragged down on his 48-yard line.

Two line plays and an attempted pass netted Villanova a two-yard loss and again the Easterners were forced to kick, Alfred Schmid’s boot rolling dead on the Kentucky 26.

Six players later the Wildcats had scored the first touchdown of the bowl tilt through the spectacular efforts of Boller and Howe, who were the sparkling backfield stars in today’s victory.

Boller crashed off guard for four yards and then Howe skirted end for 19 more and a first down. Boller picked up three off tackle, then faded far back and shot a long pass to Howe which was good for a first down on the Villanova 30. Fullback Bill Moseley contributed a yard with a smash at the center of the line and Howe on the next play headed for the sideline, cut back down the field and behind beautiful blocking picked his way for 29 yards and the touchdown.

Lead By 10 Points

Blanda added the extra point with a kick from placement which gave the Kentuckians a 10-point lead and the margin by which they annexed the Great Lakes title.

Late in the period Villanova started a march which carried to the Wildcat 10-yard line. Then George Schreiber crashed off tackle to go over the goal line, but officials fated that the third period was over before the play was started and the ball was brought back to the Kentucky 10 where play was resumed with the beginning of the final period.

But the Villanova team was not to be denied this taste of glory and after an attempted pass had fallen incomplete Ralph Pasquariello, a 222-pound fullback, bulled his way through the line for 10 yards and a touchdown, Siano adding the extra point from placement.

After the kickoff, which Boller returned to his own 26, the Wildcats started another drive which carried to the Villanova 25. Howe went off tackle for three yards after having taken a pass from Boller, which was good to the 28. However, the attack bogged down at this point and Blanda was forced to kick, the ball sailing out of bounds on the Pennsylvanians’ 19.

Boller Returns Punt

On the first play from scrimmage Villanova was set back to its own 2-yard line with a 15-yard penalty for holding, and after an attempt at the line netted 2 yards, kicked to Boller.

The hard-running Kentucky left halfback took the ball on the Villanova 38 and fled to the 26 before he was dragged to earth.

Wilbur (Shorty) Jamerson then went into action to pick up 12 yards and a first down on two trips off tackle, but the Wildcats were set back to the 19 when officials ruled their backfield was in motion on a pass from Blanda to Chink Sengel which was good to the 6.

Another pass from Blanda to Sengel fell incomplete before Lee Truman, a defensive power for the Kentucky eleven, crashed tackle for 4 yards.

Coach Bryant sent in the injured Wallace (Wah Wah) Jones for a pass play, but the big end snagged Boller’s heave outside the end zone. It appeared that the Cats’ scoring threat had faded into thin air as they still had 11 yards to go on fourth down.

Races For Touchdown

Boller, however, took a different view of the situation. Dropping back to throw another pass, he found his receivers covered but sighted an opening through tackle and took advantage of his opportunity by crashing through to score. Blanda again added the extra point.

On the first play following the kickoff, guard Dick Holway broke through the Villanova line to catch Andy Gordon for a 6-yard loss and Howe threw ice water on the already chilled Pennsylvanians by hurtling through the air to knock down a long pass which seemed almost certain of completion.

Gordon was caught for another 6-yard loss on an attempted line play, but got 5 yards of it back when the Kentuckians were penalized for being offside. He made another mistake on the very next play when he shot a pass in the direction of one of his ends, only to have the bounding Boller grab it out of the air on the Villanova 49 and race all the way down the field for a touchdown.

Blanda kept his record for the day perfect with a kick from placement for the extra point.

Villanova Scores Marker

With time running out, Villanova again took to the air, Gordon completing three aerials out of four attempts to give his team a first down on the Kentucky 13. A smash at the center of the line by Pasquariello and another pass by Gordon accounted for 4 yards. Then Gordon shot a spiral to John Sheahan, a substitute end, who took the ball in the end zone for a touchdown with only two minutes of playing time remaining in the game.

A kick from placement by Siano added the extra point to end the scoring for the afternoon.

Siano’s kickoff was short, with Wash Serini, who played a lot of tackle today in this last appearance in a Kentucky uniform, taking the ball on the Wildcat 45 and returning to the Villanova 45 before being downed. Then the Kentuckians started down the field again, but after three line plays had netted them 12 yards time overtook them and the game ended.

This story was originally published May 17, 2020 at 9:12 AM.