1st and 62; packing up and leaving at halftime when you are winning; a team allowed 24 points yet still hasn’t allowed a point this season; school has a JV yet only has 7 kids out for football; school’s only team loses game yet gets a varsity win, then cancels season…week 6 without a doubt, must have been played in the Twilight Zone!
-In the hottest topic of the week…Tioga squared off with Fort Worth THESA, a private, independent school, and took a 20-14 lead into the locker room at halftime… and then decided not to play anymore, shook hands, and left. Result… a Tioga forfeit, due to failure to come out for the second half. Control of the game being lost and fear of players’ safety was cited as the reason why Tioga packed up, left, and took the loss.
Tioga HC Cody Patton told me:
“I had to make a tough decision last night to leave at half with a 20-14 lead, control of the game was lost and it is my job as the head coach to keep the safety of my players my main priority and protect them. THESA’s players and coaches were not to blame, we have played them the last four years and they have a solid program and really great athletes. Our players and their players shook hands after the first half and wished each other luck on the rest of the season.”
My email to the UIL regarding this odd game and outcome has yet to be answered and a call to the UIL asking for clarification was passed on to their Media Coordinator Kate Hector, instead of someone familiar with the rules and regulations. Mrs. Hector did say that she believed these issues are usually handled on the local level by the district director. Coach Patton himself has filed an incident report and called and spoke with the UIL, who told him as the head coach, if he felt his players’ safety was in jeopardy, he could take action to protect his players. Tioga will also file a report with TASO. Ironically, the UIL could actually review the game and incident and award Tioga a win.
(editor’s note – I am not sure how this works, as THESA is not a UIL school. So I am guessing this doesn’t happen.)
-White Deer traveled to Follett to put their win streak and streak of not allowing any points to the test. With seconds left before halftime, White Deer was down 24-14 to the hometown squad, when lightning struck… literally.
The game went into a lightning delay that lasted over two hours, ultimately resulting in the game’s cancellation with no make-up. So even though they allowed 24 points, because it was a cancellation, it is as if no game was played, and therefore White Deer’s officially undefeated and still has yet to allow a point this season.
-Sticking with technicalities, Guthrie has less than 10 kids out for football… seven to be exact… and yet they have a JV… or rather are technically having to play as a “JV” as the Jaguars have two players on their roster that are move-ins and thus only eligible to be playing on “sub varsity” at the present time. So, for the past few weeks, and this week against Valley, Guthrie “Varsity” has “forfeited” their games and Guthrie’s “JV” has been filling those games.
…The weirdness continues…Guthrie “JV” recorded a win this week against Rule 59-24. Oh, but it is technically a “sub-varsity” game, so even though Rule has no JV, it doesn’t go against Rule’s “varsity” record and is considered a Guthrie varsity forfeit to Rule’s varsity, even though in reality Guthrie’s only team beat Rule’s only team.
…and it goes on… Rule, who only had seven varsity eligible players, had a player quit this week, taking them down to six players, one of which is nursing an injury, and thus they decided to cancel the remainder of their season.
-In a big matchup in Division II last week, Valley faced off against Crowell. The game was very competitive, with Valley holding a slim lead throughout most of the game and a 46-36 lead going into the fourth quarter. In that final stanza, the Patriots pulled away and held a 62-36 lead with about a minute left to play in the game. Crowell had the ball with a 1st and 15 with the ball marked at the Valley 30, then things got weird… a series of plays all resulting in penalties backed Crowell all the way up to their own 3-yard line. Not a single down was played, resulting in a 1st and 62! Crowell then took a knee to just try and kill the clock, resulting in a 2nd and 64 from their own 1 yard line. They ended up punting to Valley, who kneeled it out to end the game.
-Lorenzo edged out Silverton in a battle of unbeatens in overtime! However, even this great game wasn’t without controversy! In OT Silverton had the first possession and threw an INT. Lorenzo in their possession is about to score, fumbles the ball forward into the endzone, a whistle is blown before the play is dead and a Lorenzo player, not the one who fumbled it, recovers the ball in the endzone… refs ruled it a Lorenzo TD and game over. Lorenzo 54 Silverton 48.
While it didn’t happen this week…here are some other oddities from this season:
-In week 4, Trinidad had their game with Fruitvale end in the 3rd quarter with the Trojans leading 55-25 due to a blown breaker causing the lights on half the field to go out.
-It was also in week 4 where the Fannindel vs Campbell game ended before the fourth quarter due to Fannindel having injured players and both coaches meeting, and mutual agreeing to consider the contest an official game…the shortened game was also the highest combined scoring game ever in Texas Campbell winning 125-122.
-In week 2, Lazbuddie had a large 61-28 lead over Lubbock Plainview Christian in the 3rd quarter and was forced to forfeit due to injuries taking them down to only five players. Lazbuddie was then forced to cancel/forfeit their next game against Wilson, a game they would have likely won. Lazbuddie is now 3-2 on the season and those two loses are those two forfeits, one a game they were winning handily and one they likely would have won if they had six kids to play.
Got any more oddities… let me know what I have missed out on!
-In the hottest topic of the week…Tioga squared off with Fort Worth THESA, a private, independent school, and took a 20-14 lead into the locker room at halftime… and then decided not to play anymore, shook hands, and left. Result… a Tioga forfeit, due to failure to come out for the second half. Control of the game being lost and fear of players’ safety was cited as the reason why Tioga packed up, left, and took the loss.
Tioga HC Cody Patton told me:
“I had to make a tough decision last night to leave at half with a 20-14 lead, control of the game was lost and it is my job as the head coach to keep the safety of my players my main priority and protect them. THESA’s players and coaches were not to blame, we have played them the last four years and they have a solid program and really great athletes. Our players and their players shook hands after the first half and wished each other luck on the rest of the season.”
My email to the UIL regarding this odd game and outcome has yet to be answered and a call to the UIL asking for clarification was passed on to their Media Coordinator Kate Hector, instead of someone familiar with the rules and regulations. Mrs. Hector did say that she believed these issues are usually handled on the local level by the district director. Coach Patton himself has filed an incident report and called and spoke with the UIL, who told him as the head coach, if he felt his players’ safety was in jeopardy, he could take action to protect his players. Tioga will also file a report with TASO. Ironically, the UIL could actually review the game and incident and award Tioga a win.
(editor’s note – I am not sure how this works, as THESA is not a UIL school. So I am guessing this doesn’t happen.)
-White Deer traveled to Follett to put their win streak and streak of not allowing any points to the test. With seconds left before halftime, White Deer was down 24-14 to the hometown squad, when lightning struck… literally.
The game went into a lightning delay that lasted over two hours, ultimately resulting in the game’s cancellation with no make-up. So even though they allowed 24 points, because it was a cancellation, it is as if no game was played, and therefore White Deer’s officially undefeated and still has yet to allow a point this season.
-Sticking with technicalities, Guthrie has less than 10 kids out for football… seven to be exact… and yet they have a JV… or rather are technically having to play as a “JV” as the Jaguars have two players on their roster that are move-ins and thus only eligible to be playing on “sub varsity” at the present time. So, for the past few weeks, and this week against Valley, Guthrie “Varsity” has “forfeited” their games and Guthrie’s “JV” has been filling those games.
…The weirdness continues…Guthrie “JV” recorded a win this week against Rule 59-24. Oh, but it is technically a “sub-varsity” game, so even though Rule has no JV, it doesn’t go against Rule’s “varsity” record and is considered a Guthrie varsity forfeit to Rule’s varsity, even though in reality Guthrie’s only team beat Rule’s only team.
…and it goes on… Rule, who only had seven varsity eligible players, had a player quit this week, taking them down to six players, one of which is nursing an injury, and thus they decided to cancel the remainder of their season.
-In a big matchup in Division II last week, Valley faced off against Crowell. The game was very competitive, with Valley holding a slim lead throughout most of the game and a 46-36 lead going into the fourth quarter. In that final stanza, the Patriots pulled away and held a 62-36 lead with about a minute left to play in the game. Crowell had the ball with a 1st and 15 with the ball marked at the Valley 30, then things got weird… a series of plays all resulting in penalties backed Crowell all the way up to their own 3-yard line. Not a single down was played, resulting in a 1st and 62! Crowell then took a knee to just try and kill the clock, resulting in a 2nd and 64 from their own 1 yard line. They ended up punting to Valley, who kneeled it out to end the game.
-Lorenzo edged out Silverton in a battle of unbeatens in overtime! However, even this great game wasn’t without controversy! In OT Silverton had the first possession and threw an INT. Lorenzo in their possession is about to score, fumbles the ball forward into the endzone, a whistle is blown before the play is dead and a Lorenzo player, not the one who fumbled it, recovers the ball in the endzone… refs ruled it a Lorenzo TD and game over. Lorenzo 54 Silverton 48.
While it didn’t happen this week…here are some other oddities from this season:
-In week 4, Trinidad had their game with Fruitvale end in the 3rd quarter with the Trojans leading 55-25 due to a blown breaker causing the lights on half the field to go out.
-It was also in week 4 where the Fannindel vs Campbell game ended before the fourth quarter due to Fannindel having injured players and both coaches meeting, and mutual agreeing to consider the contest an official game…the shortened game was also the highest combined scoring game ever in Texas Campbell winning 125-122.
-In week 2, Lazbuddie had a large 61-28 lead over Lubbock Plainview Christian in the 3rd quarter and was forced to forfeit due to injuries taking them down to only five players. Lazbuddie was then forced to cancel/forfeit their next game against Wilson, a game they would have likely won. Lazbuddie is now 3-2 on the season and those two loses are those two forfeits, one a game they were winning handily and one they likely would have won if they had six kids to play.
Got any more oddities… let me know what I have missed out on!
