You might think in seeing a 14-0 soccer score (Think of it as the equivalent of a 98-0 score in football) that one team went considerably out of its way to roll up the score.
This was actually a score of an Oct. 5 women’s soccer match Peninsula College and Skagit Valley. In reality, I was impressed that Pirates coach Kanyon Anderson did everything humanely possible to keep the score under control.He substituted out most of his star players in the first six or seven minutes of the match, then toward the end of the first half, substituted out most of the entire starting lineup. In fact, his reserves played most of the second half.
Skagit Valley was clearly overwhelmed. Their players simply weren’t at the skill level to maintain any sort of possession of the ball. Anderson told his players not to get caught up in racking up their statistics and to keep it classy.
He explained to me that he still wanted his players to keep actually playing soccer. That meant moving the ball forward toward the goal and not simply playing “keep away” from the Cardinals. He said that was more disrespectful to the game than continuing to still attempt to score. It was much like a college football game in which a team stops passing, but continues to score on a weak opponent by simply running the ball.
I was impressed with the sportsmanship and the attempt to maintain class on the playing field when one team simply couldn’t compete against the other.
Archbishop Murphy mess
This brings me to the controversy over the Archbishop Murphy football team. After winning its first three games by a combined score of 170-0, Class 2A Archbishop Murphy had its next four opponents forfeit (three of them public schools) rather than face that onslaught. I have no idea if Archbishop Murphy is padding those scores having not seen any of their games, but I have seen this happen at the high school level.
Twenty years ago, Lynden Christian was a powerhouse in virtually every sport; they literally won the state championship in every major sport for a few years. I was a sports editor in the San Juans covering Friday Harbor High School sports. Back in those days, Friday Harbor was pretty weak in sports, especially in girls’ sports. The school had a terrible time finding good coaches and getting stable coaching situations. Lynden Christian in particular would crush Friday Harbor in every sport but baseball.
I was covering one dreadful game between Lynden Christian and Friday Harbor girls’ basketball — I think the final score ended up being something like 81-12 — when the Friday Harbor athletic director walked by and talked to me. He was clearly displeased. Why? Because Lynden Christian was still playing its starters in the fourth quarter.
Rolling up the score
Honestly, it was such an awful, boring game that I didn’t even notice until he mentioned it, but it was true. With a 60-point lead in the fourth quarter, Lynden Christian actually was still playing its starters. I can’t imagine why. Did they need the playing time? Was the coach working on certain plays? Or was he rolling it up, padding his team’s and players’ statistics and padding his state rankings. I don’t know what his motive was — we didn’t really cover Lynden Christian and I didn’t think to ask him at the time.
I don’t mean to pick on Archbishop Murphy or Lynden Christian (again, this was 20-plus years ago, I’m sure the guilty parties are long gone).
But I do think what’s going on with ATM today and what was going on with Lynden Christian then highlights a genuine issue of public schools competing with private schools.
Simply put, private schools do have built-in advantages. They have more ability to control their player pool than public schools. I’m tip-toeing around coming right out and saying they recruit players — star players — because I know private schools deny this. Even if they’re honest about this, there is still recruitment going on, even if it doesn’t go beyond parents recruiting schools for their star athlete kids to attend (and yes, that goes on in public schools to a degree, as well). I guarantee any local public schools will likely have to go through private schools if they make the postseason. Teams with kids specifically going to that private school for the sports.
So, you end up with 81-12 scores with starters still in the game. You end up with a team outscoring its opponents 170-0 and then five forfeits. Is there a solution? Perhaps private schools should have their own leagues and playoffs. There might not be enough private schools to put together viable leagues, I don’t know. I think it should at least be looked at. Because, a season full of forfeits certainly isn’t the answer.
What’s sporting and what isn’t is a fine line. One person’s enthusiastic bat flip is another person’s “disrespect of the game.” Fairness isn’t easy nor easily defined. In a 14-0 rout, I saw a coach and team do everything humanly possible to keep it fair. Maybe the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association needs to do more to keep it fair in competition between public and private schools.
________
Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
