It has been 70 years since the 1940 Italy Gladiators were undefeated and unscored on. Bill Bryant was a graduate of Italy High School and the Sports Editor for the Italy News Herald. The following is his tenth article of the season.

Gladiators Blank Kerens Friday On Very Muddy Field

Playing in a sea of mud, the Italy Gladiators defeated the Kerens Bulldogs last Friday at Kerens 7 to 0, continuing the march of the local Cook-men with an unblemished record.

This was the seventh victory for the Gladiators and ran their score up to 231 points to their opponents nothing.

Scoring in the first ten minutes of the play on a delayed buck by Billy Howell, the Gladiators resorted to straight football the remainder of the game. At the end of the first half, the Italy team was pushing the Bulldogs back on their eight yard line, and at the end of the game they were on the five yard line pounding away, but were stopped by the timekeeper’s whistle.

While the score was not so top-heavy as the other games played by the Gladiators, the muddy field made it difficult to progress and the boys played safety first instead of rushing for a top-heavy score. The game was indeed a good one, and shows the Gladiators knew their stuff.

The Kerens game was played in the afternoon and many of the fans and school pupils attended the Waxahachie and Corsicana game at Corsicana that night. The band and pep squad accompanied the team to Kerens and did their stuff in approved fashion. The band is making wonderful progress under direction of Chas. L. Tunstall.