By Jim Dunne

The 1949 season continued with a battle of unbeaten and unscored-upon teams. Norwich had won its first two games by 34-0 and 27-0, and Little Falls had beaten the Syracuse Indians 25-0 and Amsterdam 14-0. The year before, the teams had split, with Little Falls winning at Norwich 13-7, and Norwich winning at Little Falls 20-19. They would play home-and-home again in 1949, and the battles promised to be as close as before. Norwich would have 3 players back for the first contest: Don Crittenden, Bernie Thompson, and Bill Crawley. All had played for the Purple Tornado, Crittenden as quarterback in ’45-’47, Thompson as guard in ’39-’40, and Crawley as end in ’41-’43 as well as with the Y Giants in the first two seasons. In addition, Loren VanSteinburg joined the squad for the first time. It was announced that Little Falls, a 6-point favorite, would be bringing 4 busloads of fans to balance the Alumni Field crowd. Once again we defer to the account of the Grantland Rice of Norwich, Perry Browne: