Begging for mercy

[Crimson's Ghost]

Earlier this week, Baldwin, a 5A school in the Pittsburgh suburbs, sent out a letter to the remaining five teams on their schedule asking for leniency and to not run up the score. They also requested their opponents to use JV players early and often. Baldwin initially asked to play the entire games under a running clock, which is not allowed, but schools can agree to shorter quarters, which I guess is now the intended goal.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/hig ... 2509240053

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news ... -concerns/

Baldwin is 0-5 and has been outscored 277-32 this season. Apparently they only have 30ish kids on the team. They went 0-10 last year and I think 2019 was the last time they made the WPIAL postseason. Baldwin is firmly AAAAA and the 19th largest school among the 121 football playing schools in the WPIAL with a male population of 492.


Now, Fox Chapel, another 5A school from the Pittsburgh, is asking for the same thing, specifically in tonight's game against Pine-Richland. Fox Chapel is 2-3 and this is a conference game. Pine-Richland is loaded with a bunch of D1 players of course. So apparently they'll play a normal first quarter and it will basically be a mercy rule starting in the second quarter?


https://x.com/WPIAL_Insider/status/1971555279453221132

[Crimson's Ghost]

Butler, another large WPIAL school, dropped out of District 7 a few years back and plays an independent schedule these days.

I know they tried to go to D-10, but I'm not sure how that worked out, or if they are even eligible for any kind of postseason.



Albert Gallatin also dropped out of the WPIAL for being non-competitive and also plays an independent schedule. They aren't quite as big as some of these schools, but still...

[Crimson's Ghost]

I guess this technically started with Shady Side. They forfeited against Clairton on 9/5 stating they did not have enough healthy players despite being 2-0 at the time. SSA was able to get healthy in a week after opting to not play Clairton and won its next game over Ligonier 42-6.

[Crimson's Ghost]

It’s one thing if a rural Somerset county school that has 24 players can’t make it through a season. We’ve seen that happen.

But skating out of blowout losses is kind of embarrassing for larger schools.

[EnzoLigoniere]

why screw over kids who worked hard, by making them not play, pull your starters when you want to

[youngbuck]

couldnt the Piaa allow teams to play down a class when they compleyely uncompetive

no playoff eligibility, but regular season allowed so teams dont sandbag

[knowitall]

I’m impressed that no local team has forfeited yet.

The Post Gazette reported that Springdale and Brownsville both forfeited this week and that Springdale’s season may be over.

Cambria Heights 58 Conemaugh Valley 6
Claysburg Kimmel 73 Southern Huntington 0

There may be some local schools on the cusp.

[Rumorman78]

Why would any coach want to run up the score of 73 points, against a team that was mentioned in Mirror, decimated by injuries from the past weeks?

[davesandstorm]

Why would any coach want to run up the score of 73 points, against a team that was mentioned in Mirror, decimated by injuries from the past weeks?

It looks like both junior varsity teams played the entire second half. As long as you aren’t running crazy trick plays or onside kicks, I’m fine with letting those boys ball out under the big lights.

[District5Fan]

I was there, and I can say the second half CK offense was very vanilla. JV kids the entire time and JV OC calling the plays. Basically runs and short passes. You can tell kids to not play 100%, that’s when injuries happen.