Undefeated & Untied
By John Reagan
July 3, 2015
Georgetown's only undefeated, untied season was the 1938 season, which was remembered in a series of features from the College yearbook, Ye Domesday Booke. Below are the recaps from that retrospective:
Game 1: October 1, 1938
Georgetown 51, Hampden-Sydney 0
Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC
Football made a pleasant debut on the Hilltop, in fact one of its grandest beginnings in its sixty-three \'ear history at Georgetown, on Saturday, October 1, when Coach Jack Hagerty unleashed his potent yet unknown Hoyas and turned them loose on a defenseless collection of Tigers from Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia. It really wasn't a football game once Master Jack's charges recovered from a first quarter case of stage fright and settled down to serious business, but a disguised imitation of a track meet.
Once James Castiglia, the sensational Sophomore fullback, bruised his way over center for the season's initial score, in the early minutes of the second period, the scoring stone was definitely pried loose and as the tussle aged and momentum increased score upon score was piled up with increasing rapidity.
When the smoke of battle had cleared away and the results of the Hampden-Sydney experiment were calculated, it was discovered that everyone placed well, especially the Sophomores, and that the scoring honors had gone to a rookie named Lewis Ghecas, who had crossed the goal line on three different occasions.
Mellendeck, Koshlap, Spencer, and Reichey also contributed to the lopsided victory with touchdowns, each adding a six-pointer to the day's mammoth score.
Game 2: October 8, 1938
Georgetown 33, Roanoke 6
Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC
Everybody sensed the possibilities of a successful season for this star-studded Sophomore team and during the lapse between the first and second games the Hoya backers were not wagering on the possibilities of a win or a loss but on the size of the score, Finally, when game time had rolled around and a small band of Maroon warriors from Roanoke paraded upon the field of battle, a sigh of pity permeated the air.
Before the actual game was a quarter old the superiority attitude had been severely jolted, for on the playing field Roanoke was putting up a whale of a battle, in fact they were playing on even terms with the Hoyas. The tension was relieved when Joseph Mellendeck took a forty-five yard pass from Jules Koshlap early in the second quarter and trotted over the goal line. Roanoke counter-attacked with a passing duo, Hancock to Moore, and came within a point of knotting the score.
Before the closing seconds of the half the Hoyas regained the upper hand when Lou Ghecas sprinted around end to put them definitely in front thirteen to six. A dressing room session took place during the intermission with Coach Hagerty in the important role. It had its effect, for the Hoyas recovered their stride in the second half and chalked up some twenty more points, with Mellendeck, Spencer, Koshlap, and McFadden doing most of the ball carrying.
Game 3: October 15, 1938
Georgetown 33, Randolph-Macon 0
Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC
The third of the Virginia minor gridiron teams to supply conditioning exercises for the Hoyas was Randolph-Macon and its hoard of Yellow Jackets.
Invading the Georgetown camp on October 15 the Virginians did little more than supply opposition for the Blue and Gray, and when they had left they carried away nothing more than the experience of being on the opposite side of the scrimmage line from the fast stepping Hoyas. Except for Koshlap, Mellendeck, and Spencer, who were the larger portion of the offense, the team as a whole appeared weary of being thrown against weaker opponents, and after pushing across twenty-six points in the first half decided to rest on its laurels and did nothing except go through the formalities of completing the game in the third and fourth periods.
The caliber of play was far below that displayed in the initial game and because it was unimpressive it caused the "Monday morning quarterbacks "to wonder if Georgetown really did have something. Apparently the warm-up period for the Hoyas had dulled their play. Speculation on the complete success of the season ceased and it was realized that nothing at all could be predicted about the future of the team until after the game with the more powerful Manhattan team, so on to the Jaspers, our first major opponents, and the crux of the season.
Game 4: October 22, 1938
Georgetown 14, Manhattan 13
Yankee Stadium, New York, NY
The Georgetown team that turned back the Jaspers of Manhattan was an eleven that tasted the sweet fruits of an early 7-0 lead, swallowed bitterly the dregs of an unfortunate break, which enabled the New Yorkers to tie the score and eventually forge ahead, and then still had enough to come back and snatch victory out of the fire.
The Hoyas dispelled any doubt that they were an overrated football machine and established themselves as an outstanding football team with an extra share of "heart." Georgetown was the first to score in the initial quarter. Working from their new spread formation, the Hoyas, on the shoulders of Koshlap and Mellendeck, ran the ball to the Jasper seventeen yard line, where Koshlap dropped a pass into the hands of Robert Kercher for the score -- McFadden converting. A pass, Caruso to Farabough, and an interception return to the four yard line by Boverini gave Manhattan thirteen points in quick order to put the Hoyas behind 13-7.
Undaunted, the Hoyas returned to the fray in the second half and once again employed their spread formation to bewilder the Jaspers with a short pass from Koshlap to Mellendeck, the latter sprinting fifty yards to the goal line. Augie Lio's golden toe placed the conversion between the uprights for the margin of victory.
Game 5: October 28, 1938
Georgetown 13, Temple 0
Temple Stadium, Philadelphia, PA
"Weather: rainy; gridiron, heavy" was the best that Philadelphia could offer Georgetown on Friday night, October 28, but it didn't bother the rampaging Hoyas in their historic battle with the Owls of Temple, not in the least: once the Blue and Gray huskies sank their football cleats into the turf of Temple Stadium and went to work on the "Night Owls" of Temple.
Adverse weather conditions didn't faze Georgetown at all as the amazed Owls found out when the Hoyas deployed into their now popular "spread" formation and began to perform spectacular tricks with a soggy pigskin on a precarious football field. Georgetown, offensively and defensively, did everything correctly but just couldn"t advance into "pay dirt" until the third quarter. With the ball on Temple's fourteen yard line Julius Koshlap and Joe Mellendeck alternated in stabbing the Temple line till Mellendeck finally carried over to score.
Late in the fourth quarter Joseph Frank, one of Georgetown's most brilliant tackles, snared a Temple pass and raced to the Red and White fourteen yard line. Quarterback Joe McFadden reached into his bag of tricks and came up with a left end run, by Ghecas, from the functioning "spread, " which scored. Georgetown is now acclaimed outstanding and visions of an undefeated season begin to crystallize.
Game 6: November 5, 1938
Georgetown 13, Bucknell 0
Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC
The thundering herd of Bucknell invaded Washington and carried the high hopes of repeating the age-old story of David and Goliath under the stage lights of Griffith Stadium, but Georgetown's giants refused to be conquered in sixty minutes of blistering football and won going away.
Bucknell plainly was convinced that it was capable of knocking the Hoyas off their coveted pinnacle and played just that type of game -- never conceding an inch of ground. Although Georgetown succeeded in hanging six points on the score board in the first four and a half minutes of play, by completing a fifty-eight yard touchdown drive with Mellendeck and Elmer Moulin in the feature roles, the Bisons appeared unimpressed and after collecting their strength again battled on even terms for the remainder of the half.
Returning from the intermission Bucknell's backfield of Tomasetti, Funair, Klick, and Quick continually invaded Hoya territory and put G.U. strictly on the defensive. With two minutes to play, Daly, towering Hoya end, gathered in a Bucknell fumble on the Bisons' twenty-one yard line. Moulin and Mellendeck again went to work and in two plays carried the ball to the five yard line where Mellendeck passed to McFadden in the end zone.
Game 7: November 12, 1938
Georgetown 14, West Virginia 0
Mountaineer Field, Morgantown, WV
For fifty-five minutes of a thrill-packed football game Georgetown's undefeated and heavily favored Hoyas tried in vain to puncture the dogged defense of the West Virginia Mountaineers, and just as the 15,000 homecoming fans of the West Virginians were about to be reconciled to a scoreless tie Joe McFadden struck twice, with lightning-like rapidity, to snatch victory from the field of battle.
In the matinee, Georgetown's offense ran rough-shod over the Mountaineers only to be turned back on every occasion that it knocked at "the door of points." Every scoring trick of McFadden"s having failed, Joe, in the fleeting moments of the final quarter, called his own signal on the West Virginia eighteen yard line. Mellendeck dropped back and aimed a bullet-like pass for the end zone where Joe McFadden gathered it in for the score.
Scarcely three minutes later McFadden struck again to crush the Mountaineers' lingering hopes of a tie. West Virginia was making a desperate attempt to score through the air when Joe reached high and speared a West Virginia pass near mid-field. Reversing his field he headed for the side lines and sprinted to his second touchdown. Only the Terrapins of Maryland can now destroy Old Georgetown's first untarnished record!
Game 8: November 19, 1938
Georgetown 14, Maryland 7
Byrd Stadium, College Park, MD
After sixty-three years of frustration Georgetown University completed its first undefeated and untied football season by trouncing the inspired local rival, the Terps of Maryland.
Before 12,000 rain-drenched fans the Hoyas struck twice through the air and Maryland once in sixty minutes of heated football. Undaunted by a first quarter loss of Joe Mellendeck, Georgetown's triple threat back and offensive cog, the Blue and Gray placed its hopes upon two Sophomores, Koshlap and Kercher, and its famous "spread," to grind the Terrapins to the turf. All fulfilled expectations, Kercher scoring twice on passes from Koshlap that were executed from the "trusted" offensive formation. In completing their undefeated season the Hoyas displayed a convincing style of football, gaining 356 yards to the Terps' 149 -- a fitting climax to their greatest season. At last Georgetown has raised itself from the mire of unsuccessful football and once again is basking in the spotlight of the sport world. All hail to Jack Hagerty and his staff -- all hail to the 1938 Blue and Gray football squad, one of the nation's best: undefeated and untied.
The season: a 14 to 7 victory over the University of Maryland, Hoya followers realized a sixty-four year old dream, an undefeated and untied eleven. Georgetown began its 1938 season with a team studded with Sophomores, supposedly a handicap; however, three warm-up games proved the handicap to be an asset. The Hilltoppers then defeated Manhattan, upset Temple, trimmed Bucknell and West Virginia, and triumphed over Maryland. The velvet smooth functioning of the team was mainly imparted by the untiring efforts of...
THE COACHES...Jack Hagerty, Maurice Dubofsky, and George Murtaugh. When Jack Hagerty, a former member of the New York Giants professional team, accepted the job as head coach at Georgetown in 1932, he insisted that Dubofsky and Murtaugh be his assistant coaches. These men have gradually built up a team and combined it with a "Spread System" to produce the caliber of football witnessed on the Hilltop last season. The weight of the coaches was lightened no end by the play of such...
INDIVIDUAL STARS..as Joe Mellendeck, Joe Frank, Bill Burke, Elmer Moulin, Jim Castiglia, Bob Kercher, Jim Hill, and sophomore quarterback Joe McFadden. The "Spread System" was hinged on the brilliant play of halfback Joe Mellendeck, one of the best backs on the Hilltop since the days of Jack Hagerty. Mellendeck won recognition as the outstanding player of the District of Columbia and was also given All-American mention. These stars could not have performed so gallantly if it were not for the work of...
THE SENIORS AND CO-CAPTAINS...Frank, Burke, Moulin, Hill, Gildea, Robertson, Donohue, Riofski, and Wychunas. These nine, the backbone of this phenomenal eleven, were chosen by their teammates at the close of the season "in toto" as co-captains, a gesture of the team's appreciation. Me n of their caliber, experience, and ability will be difficult to replace...Coach Hagerty knows this too well. Frank, Burke, Riofski, and Hill leave gaping holes in the forward wall and the departure of Moulin and Wychunas will be severely felt in the backfield. Leaving Georgetown, these men can pride themselves in that they were the fundamental reason for the 1938 Georgetown undefeated and untied football team, the first in sixty-three years of competition on the gridiron.