highschool football game

[bernie]

not sure if anyone heard bout this...

a team is 1 game away from the state championsship. they are ahead by 5 with :07 left. it's 4th down on like their own 40 or something...

the coachs call? have the QB run backwards, out of the endzone. thus taking the time off the clock and winning. there was no fear of his QB getting caught....the safety would be insignifigant since it would only give the other team 2 pts and theyd still win with time expired....

what happened? the QB runs backwards to the endzone, drops the ball in the endzone and starts celebrating. an opposing player goes and picks up the ball.

TOUCHDOWN! game over. they lose and no state championship game...season over

even the guy picking up the ball was suprised. the pic in the paper shows the guy holding the ball, while the other team is mistakenly celebrating behind him.

ouch...

b

[Ed Miller]

Ya.. I saw that on the news. I feel sorry for the QB... he's never going to forget that for the rest of his life.

[glen]

I saw that replay last night on sportscenter. He just f'ed up at WRONG time. We've all made silly mistakes like that at one time or another playing cards. Once I was pot committed in an online 10/20 stud 8 (at the end of a LONG session) with a low draw against two obvious highs. I caught a 4 on the river, and I jammed a third player with one of the highs. Then when I saw all the chips drift to the full house, I looked at the board and realized that the 4 paired me, and somehow, for some reason, I didn't even notice. . . I felt sick and antsy for like three hours since I just basically threw eight dollars down the drain. Unfortunately in high school football, unlike poker, other people care when you make mistakes. This kid's going to be scared to go to his five-year reunion, and he might even get a few death threats from overzealous alumni who live in the past and still worship the high school football scene. Maybe some kid's dad will even sue him because he prevented his son from a title game, claiming he lost out on scholarship money or something stupid like that.

He shouldn't feel too bad, though, since, as you mentioned, his teammates didn't even realize what he did, and the player that picked up the ball didn't even know what was going on, so maybe he wouldn't have been the only QB to do that on that particular play.

[Ed Miller]

Damn.. that was on SportCenter? I figured it was just on the local WA state news... double sucks for him then...

[Fitz]

I saw that on Sports Center this morning; I feel sorry for the kid.

Something very similar happened here in Kansas City about 12 or 15 years ago, and it is still talked about occasionally. The quarterback here is, I believe, an attorney now, and he was interviewed on one of the local sports shows on the anniversary of the incident a few years ago. He handles it well now, but he said it was tough for a long time.

I personally played on one of the worst high school teams in the history of the state of Kansas. The day of our final game my Jr. year, one of the local DJ's announced on the radio that the "Toilet Bowl" would be held that night. Our high school was playing another school that not only hadn't won a game all year, but they hadn't scored a point!!! We lost 12-7. For a long time after that, everytime I tried to impress some girl with my letter jacket and football exploits one of my buddies never ceased to mention my "Bowl appearance" LOL.

Good Luck all,

[TomBMichigan]

I didn't see this play. Don't get mad at the kid, fire the coach. What a horrible call.

Why would you even put the ball in your own end zone?? /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

What you say to the kid is I wan't you to run back to the five yard line towards our side of the field. Then you run straight across to the other side of the field along the line marker. (This is assuming they're not on their own 10 yard line or something like that.) Why risk a screw-up? /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

If you tell the kid to run into the end zone the following could happen.
The kid could accidently drop the ball in the end - zone, and the other team could recover it for a touchdown. Oh wait, didn't that happen?

What a bonehead call by the coach /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

The sad thing is everyone is probobly blamming the kid. Everyone, It's not his fault!

[J_V]

I haven't had dreams that ended that bad......poor kid.

[bernie]

actually, i thought the play call was fantastic given the situation.

i just wouldve made sure the QB understood to run OUT of the BACK of the endzone....run until you hit the stands, kid.

b

[B-Man]

[youtalkfunny]

"What you say to the kid is I wan't you to run back to the five yard line towards our side of the field. Then you run straight across to the other side of the field along the line marker."

Congratulations! You've just made sure the kid gets hit! You have no chance to lose this game if you hold on to the ball, but YOU want to give the defense a free shot at knocking it loose!

And you think the coach made a bad call? Dude, glass houses.

This has happened before, as somebody mentioned above. In both cases, the coach said, "Run out the back of the endzone." In both cases, the QB forgot a few details of his assignment the moment he crossed the goal line.

In both cases, the coach made a great call.

[brad]

real answer is that theyre too concerned with their own weakness.

any decent coach runs option or up the middle or something.

when your play is based on the fact that you are weak (ie, you may fumble or whatever), youre admitting you really dont deserve to win and you set up the preconditions to lose.

[pudley4]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
any decent coach runs option or up the middle or something

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a joke, right?

Run an option? That's 5 chances to fumble the ball.

Run up the middle? There's a reason why coaches have the QB kneel at the end of the game, instead of running and possibly fumbling - see Baylor vs UNLV 1999. Plus, it might not take up all the time on the clock.

The coach here made the correct call; either he didn't explain it clearly enough, or they kid had a brain-lock.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
when your play is based on the fact that you are weak (ie, you may fumble or whatever), youre admitting you really dont deserve to win and you set up the preconditions to lose.

[/ QUOTE ]

Say your team is up by 6 with 10 seconds left, and it's 4th down on your own 5 - do you punt and risk a possible blocked kick, or do you take the safety? It's a no-brainer.

[Homer]

There's a big difference between being on your own 5 and your own 40. From your own 5, you take the snap and run out the back of the endzone with maybe 2 seconds left. This is obviously better than running a play or punting. Then you squib the free kick and hope the clock runs out. Even if it doesn't the other team has one play to go around 40 yards, and there's no way they're going to score, unless your team sucks.

From your own 40, you don't necessarily have to run back to the endzone. In fact, I don't think this is a good idea. I can easily see a lot of bad things happening when having to run 50 yards with the defense coming at you from behind. A slow moving QB could easily be caught from behind and fumble. He could trip with a couple seconds left leaving the other team with a play from the 25 or so (in HS, the clock will stop immediately when the QB falls down. He doesn't have to be touched like in the pros). My personal choice would be to run a sweep and hope the clock runs out. Even if it doesn't the other team would only have one play to go 40 yards (note that this is essentially the same situation you would be in if you ran out of the back of the endzone from your own 5).

-- Homer

[brad]

'My personal choice would be to run a sweep and hope the clock runs out'

thats what i meant but i couldnt think of the term sweep.

[bernie]

[Homer]

I do not think it is a great example, as there is a huge difference between being at your own 40 and your own 5...see my original post above.

-- Homer

[ripdog]

From what I've seen on the local news, everyone's handling themselves very well. The kids on the losing team haven't come out and ripped the offending player and both coaches have been sympathetic. Winning in that manner would make for a hollow victory.

[Mash]

What schools were involved? I am from Wash St and am curious. I didn't get to see the replay on ESPN.

[ripdog]

Seattle Times article (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/highschoolsports/134587183_2a08.html)

Welcome to 2+2. Where do you play?

[Mash]

Thanks for the link.

I grew up and went to high school in central Wash, but I don't live their now. I live in Utah now. I should be visiting family in Seattle this spring or Summer, where is the best place to play?