However, the write up of this game (Willits 68, Lower lake 18) is something that struck me as something we might debate.
Click Here for the Article
A couple of interesting excerpts from the article:
"One week after running up the score in a 74-0 interlock win at Upper Lake, the Wolverines (2-0 North, 3-5 overall) left their starters in almost until the very end against the Trojans (0-3, 1-7), something that was not lost on Lower Lake coach Stan Weiper, whose team trailed 44-18 at halftime and 60-18 after three quarters.
Willits attempted onside or pooch kicks after each of its scores, even after the game had been decided.
"They're obviously trying to get the ball back," Weiper said."
So, what do you think?
10 comments:
the thing that always bothers me about this topic is that it shouldn't even be a topic. If you were a good team it wouldn't matter what the other team did because you would be able to stop them. Bottom line is, if you don't stop the other team they are going to score no matter who is running the ball. Also, most of these schools might not have enough kids to have backups at every position.
Trying to be tough... just send ferndale down there again. They beat you bad and take their starters out in the forth quarter.
Willits has a full second team and some third team players. Again, I think that it's difficult to keep a score down if you're playing a bad team. I don't look at the score and automatically think the other team ran the score up. It's football.
But this wasn't a case of the third string scoring late in the game. The first string played the whole game, so in this case it definitely matters who is running the ball. Even that doesn't bother me as much. What does strike me wrong, however, is kicking onside kicks to keep the ball when you've already won the game.
Take Middletown for instance. In several games this year, most of the first string was done by halftime. They call simple dive plays and actually take a knee when in scoring position and give the ball to the other team (they've done this twice this year).
Each coach has a right to run their team their way...It's just interesting how different some coaches methods and decisions are.
I don't like it when teams take a knee near the goal line. Sometimes that is just as much a slap in the face as running up the score.
It's all about teaching kids the benefits of good sportsmanship. Purposely running the score up does not do that.
I do not care for the taking the knee in scoring position either. If your second or third team guys can score then let them score.
Well, that's one teams way to keep the score down (and all the teams on the opposite end of that appreciated the gesture).
But, back to the original point: Purposely running the score up is not good sportsmanship. I have no problem with high scores, teams not changing all their starters, etc. But when you use onside kicks to retain the ball after each score just to score more points in an already decided game, that rubs me the wrong way.
Kicking onsiders and going for two pt conversions when the score is that out of hand is in poor taste to say the least.
The most important part about High School Football is the life long lessons these young men learn. What lesson was learned from this, "Kick a man while he's down"?
Completely Bush League. I can guarantee you would NEVER see Coach Jorgensen pull this tactic.
On another note, from a journalism standpoint, a writer should never editorialize and interject personal opinions into his/her writing. Unless, of course, it is an editorial... which this wasn't.
Shame on the coach and the writer.
I agree Ferndale...
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