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September 1, 2010

From the Press Box: Running clock should be a part of Indiana prep football

Todd Golden The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — As I sat in the press box at Marshall High School last Friday to cover Marshall’s season opener against Edwards County, it took about four plays from scrimmage to make me thank God I was on the merciful side of the Wabash Valley’s football border.

It only took that long to see just exactly how dominant Marshall was going to be against Edwards County, a point the homestanding Lions proved emphatically with a 55-16 victory over the visiting Lions. It was a game where Marshall running back Andre Strohm set the single-season record with 318 yards on the ground, many of them gained in easy fashion as Edwards County could not tackle him.

Though a 55-16 outcome is nothing to sneeze at, it could have been far, far worse. Had Marshall and Edwards County been playing on the Indiana side of the border, for example, one could theoretically have seen a final score along the lines of 86-0. Or worse.

But Illinois has a rule where a running clock kicks in automatically once a team gains a 40-point margin over their outmatched foe. Indiana, for reasons that defy logic considering high school is a youth sport, does not.

Mismatches are part of the game, but in high school football, they can and should be managed.

You have to be careful when being critical of kids, but the hard truth was that Edwards County was utterly uncompetitive with Marshall last Friday. If ever a game needed to be managed by a running clock, this was it.

Thankfully it was, but one shutters to think how bad it could have been. Had Marshall put its boot on Edwards County’s throat — Marshall coach Todd Evers showed requisite class and called off the dogs at halftime … some coaches don’t — Lord only knows what Strohm’s rushing total or Marshall’s final point tally could have been without a running clock.

Given the reality that mismatches are often unavoidable, the Illinois High School Association and its coaches association have done the right thing by having the running clock rule. Thirty-two states have some version of it too. Some even have a threshold where the game is stopped if a certain margin is reached.

Not Indiana. It has nothing. So too often, Friday Night Lights turn into Friday Night Beatdowns that serve no purpose to the coaches, fans, and especially, the players on the wrong end of them.

The 86-0 score I mentioned was the final margin when Indian Creek, a ranked Class 3A team, defeated Edinburgh on opening night. Edinburgh is a Class A school I used to cover at a previous job. Unfortunately, the Lancers have consistently been among the worst football-playing schools in the state for many, many years. Indian Creek used to be about the same size as Edinburgh, and they are Johnson County rivals. But Indian Creek has grown in recent years and has been a solid program for at least a decade no matter what level its played at. A blowout was all but predestined in this mismatch.

But no running clock was used in the game, which to me, is madness, but the Lancers aren’t the only one’s who have been victimized.

On the same night Indian Creek routed Edinburgh, Shenandoah hammered Tri 60-0, while Fairfield and Rushville each had 52-0 victories. Last Friday, Washington defeated Pike Central 71-0.

In our own area, Linton crushed Eastern Greene 63-7 on opening night. Last Friday, Cloverdale waylaid Princeton 67-8 and Fountain Central downed Turkey Run 54-0 … the Warriors barely have 11 players to play with.

I don’t know for a fact that some of these games didn’t have a running clock during part of all of the contest — Indiana does allow both coaches to agree on when a running clock can be instituted — but regardless, that isn’t a decision that should be put in the hands of either coach. It should be automatic.

What’s the point of playing out a blowout if it can be avoided? Edinburgh’s coach choose to against Indian Creek and I don’t understand it. What was gained? What’s the point? When dealing with youth sports, playing out the 48-minute string when it can and should be avoided, is silly and borderline irresponsible. It’s misplaced pride.

This isn’t college football (I cover Indiana State, so I’m the past master of ungodly blowouts), where you try and give the second-team on-field reps or give non-starting scholarship players and walk-ons their chance.

These are high school players. Perspective alone dictates that they shouldn’t get put through a meat grinder if it can be avoided. There’s virtually nothing good that can come from stretching out a blowout, but there’s plenty of bad, the worst being avoidable injuries to players from both the winning and losing teams that can and do occur.

I hope the IHSAA and the Indiana High School Football Coaches Association finally take a page from the other 32 states that figured out a long time ago that the running clock makes sense for all parties.

Implement the running clock for football in 2011 and put an end to the nonsense of avoidable blowouts in Indiana.

Todd Golden is sports editor of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. He can be reached at (812) 231-4272 or todd.golden@tribstar.com. Check out Golden’s blog at blogs.tribstar.com/downinthevalley.

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