CT HS Football Coach Suspended For Violating 50 PT Rule

My son joined organized football for the first time this year as a sophomore. I told him not to expect to play at all, especially because as freshmen these guys were undefeated and nearly unscored upon. Turns out my son got into six games because the sophomore team (not including players already moved up to start for the varsity) had that many blowouts, including a few 50-pointers.

I think a lot of these coaches, because they made it a priority to try to get as many players in as possible. After all, they wanted to win, but their No. 1 job was developing as many plausibly varsity-level players as possible, and you're not going to do that with half the team never seeing game time. In fact, after one nonblowout game where the starters played particularly crappy, one of the coaches yelled at their for blowing a chance to get the subs in, making a point that his goal as a high school player was to play well enough that his team could build a big enough lead so the subs should play, and they should have that same goal. I don't think they won a game by less than 40 points after that.

I think part of the method to their madness was not merely looking out for the subs, but also looking out for the health of the starters. Once the scores started getting out of hand, the chance the losing team would start taking cheap shots and start woofing increased, and unfortunately some of my son's teammates couldn't resist the temptation to respond. (One team even pulled a Greg Schiano by rushing on a kneeldown -- when the score was 40-8.)

Taking the starters out guaranteed no one was going to get hurt for a really, really stupid reason, and that my son's teammates wouldn't be serving some suspension because they couldn't just point to the scoreboard instead of responding with their own yapping or fists.

 

Actually, no. Four younger players who were pretty good players became varsity-eligible, another transferred in from out of the area when her dad moved here for a better job, plus an exchange student joined the team. So the talent level went up considerably. Two of the girls eventually played D1 basketball in college and the best of the lot played D1 soccer.

 

Sometimes there's not much that can be done about mismatches. A few years ago, I had a team win 81-3. It was 60-0 at halftime. The losing team was, for lack of a better term, flat-out pathetic. Had it not been a district game, the winning team never would have scheduled such an opponent.

The sad part of it was these schools are in the state's largest classification with enrollments of more than 2,000. One takes football very seriously and has had several players receive scholarships. The other doesn't and hasn't.

It got ugly early and went downhill shortly thereafter. Winning team returned the opening kickoff past midfield and scored in six plays. 7-0, 9:57 1st Q.

Losing team went three-and-out with the punt going 17 yards. Winning team scored in six plays. 14-0, 6:20 1st Q.

Losing team failed to field the ensuing kickoff at its own 23. Winning team recovered. On the next play, wide receiver was left uncovered. 21-0, 6:09 1st Q.

Losing team fielded the next kickoff, then threw a pick that was returned to the 3. Handoff up the middle. 28-0, 5:41 1st Q.

Losing team returned the next kick inside winners' 30, then turned it over on downs at the 32. Seven plays later, FG. 31-0, 11:55 2nd Q. The fourth play of the drive was a pass to the +2. Losing team DT chopped winning team's center from behind well after the play, breaking the kid's ankle (his foot was pointing sideways). Winning coach was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after asking how the hell could all the zebras miss the late hit, making it first-and-goal from the 17. (Losing team coach took the offending player out of the game, for his own safety if nothing else.)

Losing team was called for holding on the kickoff return. On second down from the 16, losing team QB got sacked for a safety. 33-0, 10:59 2nd Q.

Winning team returned the free kick past midfield, but threw a pick on the first play. Losing team fumbled it right back on first down. After penalties on three of four plays, winning team completed a short pass that turned into a 34-yard TD after a missed tackle. 39-0, 9:26 2nd Q.

Losing team committed TWO personal fouls on ensuing series and wound up with fourth-and-30 from its 7. Winning team sent second offense in. Two plays later, soph RB went 33 yards. 46-0, 6:26 2nd Q.

Losing team went three-and-out again. Winning team returned the punt to the +47. On first down, toss sweep left went for a TD. 53-0, 5:09, 2nd Q.

Losing team went three-and-out again. Winning team returned the punt to its 46. On first down, screen pass went for a TD. The receiver caught the ball 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and split two defenders who were about 5 feet apart without getting touched. Safety had a chance to make a tackle and basically overran the play on purpose to avoid getting hit. 60-0, 3:08 2nd Q.

Losing team recorded its first first down of the game with 30 seconds left in the half, allowing it to run out the clock.

Second half was played with a running clock. At halftime, winning team coach told the starters they would get one series in the third quarter. Starting defense forced another punt. Soph return man took it 82 yards. 67-0, 8:48, 3rd Q.

Second defense recovered a fumble on the second play after the kickoff at +30. Kid on losing team took a swing at somebody, drawing a flag. Starting offense got its one series starting at +15. Two running plays. 74-0, 6:51 3rd Q.

Second defense forced another punt. Second offense ran five plays. Soph RB went 34 yards on first play of fourth quarter. 81-0.

Losing team put together a 14-play drive against whoever was left for a field goal. Winning team's offensive leftovers ran three plays to run out the clock.

Winning team ran 41 plays and scored 10 offensive touchdowns. Four scoring drives took 12 seconds or less. Five TDs were scored by sophomores. The kicker scored 13 points.

Winning team coach, who was elected president of state coaches association this year (which means a lot of other coaches like or at least respect him), said they were going through pretty much every play in the book in the second quarter, dismissing any that were likely to result in another touchdown. The losing team appeared almost militant in its refusal to make a tackle.



THE REST OF THE STORY: Center that got his ankle broken was also a pitcher on the baseball team. About six months later with half a hardware store in his leg, he pitched a complete game against the same school, knocking it out of first place in the district. While none of the opposing baseball players were on the football team, the kid admitted he felt good about getting some small measure of payback.

 

sorry, i was being a sarcastic bastard.

 

Just implement a damn mercy rule. Jesus this is stupid.

 

Yup.

If the margin is over 35 after halftime, run, run run the clock.

If some dickbag coach still wants to pour it on, let him be exposed as the asshole he is.

Someday (as my basketball story pages back describes) he'll get to take the red-hot poker up the ass himself.

RUTS on enough people and you are going to piss a lot of them off. If you piss off enough people, eventually some of them will get in position to do something about it, and they will.

 

Bullshit. You're never sorry for being a sarcastic bastard.

 

hahaha. touche.