Prep school team forfeits because other team is "too good"

and all that money that gets raised could go for tangible stuff instead of a bus ride to Jersey and a hotel room, or as Mansfield (MA) did this year, Rochester, NY. A couple years ago they at least went to St. Edward's (OH) and did the whole Football HoF thing and stuff, but Rochester and Jersey?

 

yeah just like all the money the alumni at bama, lsu, ohio st, etc., pledge could go to expanding the library. but for some reason the alumni want the money to go to the football team.

 

oh, i'm gun-ho if people want to do the whole football booster thing for the team, but upgrade weight rooms, dress them to the 9s, something that will help the football team for the long run. nobody wins with an overnight to rochester, ny.

 

I covered an eight-man football game at my first stop in Georgia between this "Christian" school for all of the ruffians who were kicked out of the public schools and had nowhere else to go and this little Christian school. The "Christian" school had two players over 300 and several more in the 250-pound range, while the poor little school had no one over 250 and most were in the 150-160 pound range.

The final score was awful, but what was worse were all of the personal fouls committed by the "Christian" school. The most egregious was when one of the tiny-mite school's running backs got loose, only to be wrenched around by the facemask and tossed out of bounds when the score was already in the triple digits. It was like watching a puppy getting run over by a Peterbilt. Pure cruelty.

I would've had no problem, considering the safety issues, to have the smaller team forfeit that one. It was men against boys. Literally. A couple of the kids on the "Christian" school were multiple failures and one I think was 19.

Ouch.

I think this sounds like a similar situation. That was the worst game I've ever covered, bar none. Worst waste of a Thursday night in my life. And we did it because the "Christian" school complained above our heads about how we never covered them.

 

Were the personal foul penalties being called?

If so, after about the fourth one, the coach of the smaller school should have been right in the face of the refs, demanding ejections, and if it kept up, a forfeit.

One of the primary responsibility of the officials is to force the game to be played in a safe and at least marginally sportsmanlike manner, and if one team refuses to do that, to end the game.

If the PF penalties were not being called -- if the refs were clearly in the pockets of the "big boys" -- the coach of the small school should have said "fuck this shit" and pulled his team off the field.

 

There were personal fouls called. I just wish they would've called that one.

 

Your trophy, ribbon and medal for such a solid post will be in the mail soon.

 

Do I get a Bozo Button, too?

 

Sure. You want ice cream, pizza, free cokes for foul balls and extra icing, too?

(For the record, I'm against quitting or forfeiting unless it's a safety issue. If it's just an ass-kicking issue, then play the game and get better or don't play sports if you suck. If it's a safety issue, the two schools should not schedule a game.)

 

That would be great. Thanks.

 

I played football at Lawrence Academy back in the day (we'll skip the details of exactly how long ago), but I can say this: Nobody was afraid to play us back then. LA is a prep school founded in the 1790s and has long been regarded as an excellent academic institution. Yes, it is an ice hockey power (many Olympians, male and female, dating back to the Miracle at Lake Placid), and in the past decade has gotten stronger in football and basketball.

But it's not an Oak Hill Academy or Hargrave Mililtary or Fork Union, taking HS grads who need to boost their grades for Division I scholarships. It's a school with strong alumni support, first-rate facilities, an outstanding faculty and leaders who have positioned the school for the future instead of lamenting the past. It was one of the first boys' prep schools to go coed (in the '70s), and it has always had a forward-thinking reputation. Its success as an academic school has helped make it a destination for athletes and non-athletes alike. It's a shame many of its ISL brethren haven't kept pace.

 

Keep pace academically, or athletically? Because I'd like to think that SG is just as good an academic school, and across the board (not just football and hockey) they're comparable on the fields (basketball, lacrosse, soccer, baseball, etc.).