Final Score: 108-3

RIVERDALE, Utah (ABC 4 Sports) – 108-3. It’s a score both astonishing and regrettable. That was the final outcome in Christian Heritage’s girls basketball victory over West Ridge Academy this past week.

“Absolutely, I mean who wouldn’t regret that?” said Crusaders head coach Rob McGill.

The Crusaders say they weren’t deliberately trying to run up the score on West Ridge, a school for at-risk youth. In fact, Christian Heritage administrators apologized to West Ridge for the 105-point margin. However, McGill said it would have been more disrespectful if he had called off the dogs.

“I have been on the other side of this equation,” said McGill. “It was very insulting when teams slowed the ball down and just passed it around. That’s why I’d rather have a team play me straight up, and that’s why I played them straight up. Because I didn’t want to taunt them, I didn’t want to embarrass them, I didn’t want them to think we could do whatever we want.”

Christian Heritage, which didn’t employ a full court press, couldn’t pull their starters since they only had nine players total available for both the junior varsity and varsity games.

Officials at West Ridge Academy do not harbor any ill feelings towards Christian Heritage. In fact, West Ridge athletic director Jamie Keefer said he actually feels bad for the Crusaders, who have been labeled as bad sports.

“They’ve apologized, and we’ve moved on,” said Keefer. “We know they’re good people and they should be proud of their team. There are no hard feelings at all.”

“That actually kind of lifts a weight off our shoulders,” said Christian Heritage sophomore Emilie Volk when informed of the apology acceptance. “We just feel like everyone is bashing us.”

Administrators from both schools will meet before the two teams meet again February 3rd to make sure a blowout like this doesn’t happen again.

“We’re going to sit down with them and make sure they know how we feel,” said Christian Heritage head of school Don Hopper. “We didn’t mean to do anything to hurt them or upset them. It got away from us, and we’re going to do things differently next time.”

“I want to personally apologize to the team,” said Crusaders co-captain Brittany Hurlbut. “To just say if we hurt any members of the team or the school, we sincerely apologize.”

But the game does raise an interesting debate. Should teams continue to work on their skills whatever the outcome may be? Or, if the score is out of hand, should teams stop trying their hardest? McGill says he teaches his team to be the best they can be all the time.

“Too many people in the world right now allow the youth to not be as good as they can be, allow them to be lazy,” said McGill. “Here, I’m giving them an opportunity to live up to the best of their abilities and be proud of what they’re able to accomplish. If that’s what I’m being blamed for, then OK, I accept it.”