COALDALE WINS FROM POTTSVILLE MAROONS - 1923

COALDALE WINS FROM POTTSVILLE MAROONS - 1923
The Evening Bulletin, Philadelphia
October 22, 1923

Field Goal in Last Minute, Following an Intercepted Pass, Decides Game, 10-7

Coaldale, Pa., Oct. 22, 1923. -- An intercepted pass on Pottsville's 20-yard line in the last few minutes of the game paved the way for a field goal by Vincent Gildea which won a gruelling [sic] contest for Coaldale in the first of its series for the coal region's big four championship. The final score was 10 to 7.

With all to gain in the attempt, Boynton stood behind his own goal line and heaved a forward pass, which Stan Cofall and Vic Emmanuel made strenuous efforts to get. But it was Bolger Giltner, Coaldale back who caught the pass, and without a moment’s loss Gildea, brother of manager Jim Gildea, drop-kicked the winning points from the 25-yard line.

Coaldale scored easily in the game, obtaining the ball on on Pottsville's six-yard line in the first period, when Boynton fumbled. As the second period began Coaldale pushed the touchdown over, with Garland, the big tackle, carrying the ball, and Gildea added the point with a neat drop-kick.

Pottsville did not tally until the final quarter. Unable to carry through the line, the visitors put on an aerial attack which ended in a touchdown when Emmanuel caught a 35-yard pass from Boynton over the goal line. Boynton kicked the goal.

Vince Gildea - described in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin of November 24, 1919, as “a clever quarterback and drop kicker.” Robert W. “Tiny” Maxwell (the person after whom the prestigious Maxwell (football) Award is named) described him in 1919 in The Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger as “a high-class player who uses excellent judgment in selecting his plays. He is also a good drop kicker and is very dangerous inside the 25-yard line.” In a 1923 game against the Pottsville Maroons, he drop kicked a field goal to help the Big Green to a last-minute 10-7 victory. He was the first head football coach for Coaldale’s St. Mary’s High School, which lost just one game over the 1924/1925 football seasons. He was also the first coach, in the 1940s, for Panther Valley Catholic High.