1925 LaSalle-Peru Football Team
Year Inducted: 2019
Accomplishments: The 1925 La Salle-Peru HS football team finished the season with an unbeaten record of 9-0. They allowed just six points all season (against Rock Island) and outscored opponents 182-6. Coached by legendary football coach Howard Fellows, L-P won the unofficial state title with wins over St. Bede, Hall, Ottawa, Mendota, Princeton, Streator, Rock Island, Kankakee and Lane Tech.
By Kevin Chlum
NEWSTRIBUNE SPORTS EDITOR
The 1925 La Salle-Peru football team lost 12 lettermen from the previous season, but that didn’t prevent the Cavaliers from having a dominant season. With nine lettermen back, the Cavs tuned up for the season with a 3-0 loss to Elgin and a 7-0 victory over an L-P alumni team.
La Salle-Peru opened the season with a 7-6 victory over Rock Island, which was the Rocks’ lone loss that year. Rock Island’s touchdown were the only points scored against the Cavalier defense all season as L-P defeated Princeton (7-0), St. Bede (12-0), Mendota (31-0), Streator (33-0), Kankakee (53-0), Ottawa (26-0), Hall (7-0) and Lane Tech (6-0).
The Cavaliers outscored their opponents 175-6. “A strong defense was immediately built up,” a recap of the season in L-P’s yearbook Ell Ess Pe read. “This defense resisted the onslaughts of all the powerful attacks made against it and yielded only one score during the season.
As the season progressed the offense gradually matched the defense. A spectacular forward pass attack, which was used only in the case of necessity, constituted one of the team’s most powerful weapons.”
The yearbook said the team captured the state championship after going undefeated. “After a clean sweep in the Illinois Valley, including the overwhelming defeats of Streator and Ottawa, the team next laid claim to the state title by winning the only game lost by Rock Island, champion of the western part of the state. Then it defeated Kankakee, the eastern Illinois champion. As a climax, the powerful Lane Tech men from Chicago were defeated on Thanksgiving day before a record breaking crowd of 5,000.” Against Lane Tech, the Cavaliers started to gain ground in the second quarter with three first downs. After a bad punt by Lane Tech, the Cavaliers took over on the 28-yard-line. On the second play of the drive, “Sauce” Janewicz threw a pass down the sideline to Walt Reinhard, who ran the remaining yards into the end zone for the only score of the game. The Cavaliers limited Lane Tech to just five first downs during the game.
The team was coached by Howard Fellows, who once called the 1925 team the best he ever coached. The school’s football stadium is named after Fellows, who also coached basketball at the school.
Kevin Chlum can be reached at 815-220-6939, or at sports@newstrib.com.
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