One of the biggest stories of the high school football season is about football that isn’t being played.
Today the Seattle Times published a story about Granite Falls opting to forfeit against Class 2A power Archbishop Murphy. Granite Falls is the third team this season to chose not to play against Archbishop Murphy, a private school in Everett with a football team that has been blowing the doors off opponents big and small this season. The Wildcats have outscored opposition 170-0 in the three games that have been played on the field.
NOTE: WIAA Statement regarding football forfeits
The story is starting to receive national attention and is igniting discussion around the state concerning the fairness of public school teams and private school teams playing against each other. Archbishop Murphy’s opponents claim that having smaller rosters with younger players puts them at a competitive disadvantage against teams like ATM, which features on offensive line that averages 300 pounds per player.
I spoke with Olympic High School athletic director Nate Andrews on Wednesday and he said his Trojans are planning to take the field against Archbishop Murphy when the two teams play in Week 8 (Oct. 21) in Everett.
He even heard from a reporter from CBS News on Wednesday asking if the Trojans planned to play or forfeit.
“We are not going to shy away from competition,” Andrews said. “We are planning on playing.”
Andrews, whose son is a freshman on Olympic’s football team, did say he realizes that Trojans will have a hard time matching up against Archbishop Murphy and hopes the game doesn’t get out of hand. He doesn’t believe forfeiting to bigger/better teams is the answer.
“You don’t teach the right lesson with that,” Andrews said.
Andrews did say he’d be willing to listen if parents became concerned with player safety (he hadn’t heard of any such concerns to date). He also believes the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association needs to continue to look at the issue of public school vs. private school competition.
Harrison Bergeron solution sounds like what they want.
Whoa…wait just a minute! How about you fly them boys south, let’s say to Alabama? We’ll gladly set you fellas up against McGill-Toolen in Mobile, AL or maybe Hoover in Hoover, AL or St. Stanislaus in MS…or maybe you’d like to tackle Brother Martin in New Orleans, LA or St. Pauls Episcopal in Mobile, AL…or another Alabama school in Blount. I highly doubt you’d see goose eggs on your scoreboard then…well, maybe on your end! Ain’t NOBODY here in AL, MS, FL, LA, GA “scared” of you…bet on it! We’ll fix your winning problem real fast!
Need to chect birth certificates of Archbishop Murphy players. ? The real ages.
What message do you teach when you lead your kids to a slaughter? Would you make your 150lb wrestler match up against a 300 pounder?