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Posted Oct. 3, 2002
Week 2: When is too
much?
Week 1: Kennewick volleyball spikes up
When is too much?
That's the dilemma coaches face against outmatched opponents
By René Ferrán
Herald staff writer
Eric Diener doesn't want anyone to pity his Highland football team after the flu-ridden Scotties were crushed 83-0 by Royal on Friday.
Hugo Garcia was downright apologetic when talking about his Connell girls soccer team's 14-2 victory over Toppenish on Tuesday.
Two coaches. Two sports. The same issue: just when is a team guilty of running up the score?
Royal coach Wiley Allred received a few jabs from some of his friends after Friday's game, but he expected that considering the final score. Allred said he tried not to run up the score on the Scotties, who had 17 players weakened by the flu suited up, and Diener concurred.
"Wiley was a gentleman," Diener said. "I have a lot of respect for him and for that program.
"There are a lot of things that compounded it. Our kids were fighting hard the whole game. But that might be the best team Royal has ever had. They're going to be your state champions. I don't think anyone will be within 20 points of them all year, and when you play them with an inexperienced team like we have and then play them when you're sick, what can a coach do to prevent this?"
In Allred's case, he started mixing in second-stringers in the second quarter and pulled all his first-stringers after the opening drive of the third quarter - by that point, the score was 62-0. He also did not call a pass play in the second half.
"Heck, my starting running back (Camron Iverson) has only six carries in three games," Allred said.
Garcia also substituted freely and put players in unfamiliar positions in the Eagles' romp over outclassed Toppenish
But when the Wildcats scored on a questionable penalty kick in the 58th minute, Garcia's competitive juices were roiled.
"I didn't want to score that many goals, but when they scored on us with that penalty kick, that made me upset," said Garcia, whose team led 12-2 at that point. "It's not nice to run up the score like that, I know that. It's not right. I don't know what else to say."
One solution to lopsided scores such as Royal's victory over Highland and an earlier 74-7 win over White Swan might be changing how scheduling is done. Both of those games were nonconference crossover contests between SCAC divisions selected by blind draw.
Instead of a blind draw for all four nonconference games, perhaps teams could be matched for one or two games based on their finishes the previous year, with the Nos. 1 and 2 of each division guaranteed to play each other the following season, Nos. 3 and 4, etc.
"There's been talk of matching teams, but then you get feelings hurt, with some coaches saying, 'We can compete with the big boys,' " Allred said.
And of course, Connell and Toppenish are in the same division - the CWAC South - and slated to meet twice a year. The rematch comes Oct. 22 in Toppenish.
"I'm not focusing on what can be done with regards to the score. I'm focused on working with my kids," Allred concluded. "I'm not going to ask my kids to do anything but play hard."
The Huskies are still ranked No. 15 by the Washington Prep Football Report despite opening the season with losses to Moses Lake, which is only 3-0 and a half-game out of the Big Nine lead; Prosser, also 3-0 and a perennial 3A power; and Cashmere, also 3-0 and one of the top 2A teams in the state.
In the last two games, Othello held fourth-quarter leads, only to watch them slip away. The Huskies led Prosser 19-14 before falling 29-19 and led Cashmere 27-12 before falling 39-27.
Next up for Othello: a CWAC South opener against archrival Connell, which is 2-1, having only lost to Cashmere 21-14.
"We'll learn from this," Huskies coach Roger Hoell said after the Prosser game. "If these games don't prepare us for league, nothing will."
One key for Othello will be cutting down on turnovers. The Huskies have turned the ball over 13 times in the three losses.
Van Troxel, the head coach at Lake City, is the son of legendary coach Ed Troxel, the former Kennewick High coach. He is also the brother of Southridge football coach Andy Troxel.
There will also be a Troxel in the Lake City lineup.
Matt Troxel, Van's son, is the fifth different Troxel to wear No. 11. He is scheduled to be Lake City's starting wingback.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Anderson was in a violent collision, and the initial diagnosis was a broken leg.
But at the hospital that night, doctors found that the leg was not broken and that Anderson had suffered only a deep contusion to his shin.
Braves coach Craig Beverlin said Anderson would be available to play Friday against Lake City.
"You have to see the hit on film," Beverlin said. "You cannot believe after seeing it that his leg couldn't have been broken. This was just wonderful news."
The Walla Walla YMCA has had a very successful year-round swim program since the late 1970s, and for years proponents had tried to get the high school to add swimming to the sports roster only to be frustrated by budget constraints.
Last year, the school board approved a two-year pilot program for swimming provided backers could find the funding. Through grants from local foundations, contributions and an $8,000 Krispy Kreme donut sale, the money was raised, and longtime coach Brad Daly came out of retirement to run the program.
"It has been a pleasure to come back," said Daly, who ran the YMCA program from 1979-91, taking over from Randy Willis when Willis came to the Tri-Cities to found the Channel Cats. "This is a dream team for me, a very talented group."
Leading the way is senior Alexis Buckley, who already has recorded five state-qualifying times and swam on a state-qualifying medley relay team. Buckley has placed at the YMCA Nationals and also swam at the Junior Nationals and U.S. Open meets.
Sarah Towery also has swam a state-qualifying time in the 100-yard butterfly and is close in two other events, and Sarah Tomlinson also is near qualifying marks in two events.
"We had a good base to start from, and that's made my job easy," Daly said.
Jacob Prince of Mount Baker originally set the record in 1997.
Stewart had been credited with 439 yards rushing after the game, but a review of the videotape revised the figure down.
In three games this season, Stewart has rushed for 945 yards - a 315.0 per game average.
The first-down chains that are supposed to measure 10 yards actually are 10 yards, 6 inches.
The inaccurate markers, purchased new three years ago, have been used at home games for the city's two high school football teams, Capital and Helena. The error wasn't noticed until the second half of the season-opening game between Helena Capital and Missoula Hellgate last month.
"It's just one of those things that you take for granted that it's accurate," said school activities director Jim Opitz.
Herald sports columnist Jim Riley and The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
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