Bits & Pieces

By Kim J. Harmon

Does Connecticut high school football need a mercy rule?

Well, if you ask those teams that have been on the short end of a 90-0 score then the answer would be … yes. But this new edict by the CIAC that a coach risks suspension if his team wins by more than 49 points may cause more problems than it solves.

It is an unfortunate reality that, in high school sports, there are going to be serious mismatches. Not every game is a nail-biter that goes down to the final whistle; yes, there are games that are essentially over before either team steps out of the locker room.

But this is not a mercy rule, per se. If a team gets up by 49 points in the second half, the game isn’t over like it would be in softball or baseball (where the mercy rule is 15 runs). The clock doesn’t run continuously like it would in lacrosse (where the mercy rule is 10 goals).

No, all that happens now is that the head coach has to think of creative ways to not score.

I have seen coaches take a knee in the third quarter of a blow out. I have seen coaches ask the officials that if one of their players breaks free and on his way to the end zone to call a holding penalty. I have seen players step out of bounds on purpose to avoid scoring.

The problem is, even if coaches put their junior varsity and freshmen players in the game in the second half how can you tell them not to try their best and not to score?

Listen, I’m all in favor of holding coaches accountable for running up the score. There is no place in high school football for a 90-0 win … no place at all. But the CIAC didn’t institute a real mercy rule; all it did is threaten a coach with suspension for a lopsided score.

The central point of the mercy rule may be admirable – allowing overmatched teams to avoid humiliation. But what would be more humiliating, getting beat 60-0 or seeing the opposing team take a knee with five minutes left in the third quarter?

I have two solutions.

One, once a team gets up 49 points in the second half turn off the scoreboard and have the winning team – like in swimming – play the remainder of the game “unofficially.” This would allow the freshman and jayvee players who get in to run a legitimate offense without fear of scoring.

Two, once a team gets up 49 points in the second half, make the removal of all starters (if possible) mandatory. Then turn off the play clock and make the game clock run continuously and if the winning teams happens to score while running belly left or belly right, so be it.

Finally, if this rule – as so many have postulated – was instituted because of one coach, then why wouldn’t the CIAC simply have a sit down with that coach instead of making the lives of so many other coaches more difficult?

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On a glorious late spring evening, there was no better seat for a high school championship lacrosse game than up on the hill by the road, outside the fence at the Edward Arum Athletic Field in Southbury … and not just because it cost $6 to get inside the fence.

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I maintain that Newtown High School has the best overall athletic facilities in the South-West Conference (maybe even the state), what with Blue & Gold Stadium and the DeGroat/Anderson Complex behind the school. But, right now, the Arum Athletic Field at Pomperaug High School may be the single best field in the SWC.

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One of my favorite stories of the spring …

A few weeks ago, at Community Field in Southbury, the Newtown High School softball team was working its way through a fairly long inning against Pomperaug and junior varsity coach Dan Winsett, concerned that the long inning may have an adverse effect on those cooling their heels on the sidelines, called over to pitcher Stacy Broughton, standing about 20 feet away, and said, “Throw a ball,” expecting the pitcher to soft toss on the sidelines to stay warm.

Coach Winsett pantomimed the motion and so Broughton – already clutching a ball in her hand – promptly walked to the end of the fence and hurled that dang thing over the hill.

To her defense, Broughton was in the middle of fashioning a one-hitter against a tough Pomperaug team and her concentration was elsewhere. To her credit, coach said to throw and so she threw. You gotta love a kid who does what her coach tells her to do, don’t you?

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After hearing so much about Rachele Fico, the freshman softball phenom out of Masuk, I was excited to see her pitch against the Newtown High School recently. Her numbers at the time were downright frightening (10 no-hitters, 11 hits allowed in 113 innings, 295 strikeouts) and I simply had to see it.

Wow.

And watching the NCAA Softball World Series on ESPN this past week gives me a little bit more perspective – pitchers from Northwestern and UCLA and Texas are throwing in the mid-60s and this Fico kid is already there. One could only imagine what three more years of high school (and presumably, summer) softball will do for her speed, her repertoire of pitches, and her experience.

Again … wow.

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People say to me, “Things must be starting to slow down for you now, huh?”

That’s what I thought last year … and the year before that … and the year before that. But I finally got it through my fairly thick skull that just because summer is here doesn’t mean the sports carousel slows down.

The Newtown Babe Ruth baseball and softball programs have become so dominant in the state that summer is just as busy as any high school season … what with all the state and regional tournaments all these teams compete in.

I can’t remember how many miles I have logged heading to Rhode Island and Massachusetts (and maybe even New Hampshire, though those endless trips up I-95 and the Mass Pike have addled my memory) but it is significant.

Two years ago, I passed on the opportunity to go to Vincennes, Indiana, for the Cal Ripken World Series to watch Bill Kneisel’s 10-year-old All Stars but last year I traveled to Russellville, Arkansas to watch Tim Braun’s 10-year-old All Stars in the Cal Ripken World Series and that was not even the end of a very busy summer.

Summer was busy right up until school opened.

And this summer will probably be more of the same.