How A High School Deals With An Opponent Canceling A Football Game With Little Notice

September 26, 2012 / Football
Bennington Banner (N.Y.), Adam Samrov

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/sports/ci_21631342/forfeits-canceled-seasons-causing-headaches

CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. — Less than 24 hours before the Cambridge Central School football team was scheduled to face Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons, athletic director Deb Lauver and football coach Doug Luke were working on teacher evaluations when Lauver got a voice mail from the administration at Bishop Gibbons.

“Doug and I looked at each other and thought it could only be one thing,” Lauver said.

When they listened to the message, the Bishop Gibbons athletic director delivered the bad news: The Golden Knights only had 15 healthy players, less than New York allows, and were forced to forfeit last Saturday’s 1 p.m. game.

It gave Cambridge less than a day to figure out a contigency plan.

“The kids weren’t even in the building, so I couldn’t make an announcement,” Lauver said. “So I sent out e-mails to boosters, the administration and the media to let them know. It’s frustrating, but what are you going to do?”

The Bishop Gibbons situation is part of an alarming trend happening throughout New York and Vermont.

Schools are canceling games or, in many cases, full seasons, because of low participation — and varsity football teams in New York are required to have 16 players on their rosters.

“With the new [stricter] concussion rule, if someone has [one], more kids stay out now compared to the past,” Lauver said. “If the 16th player had a concussion, you have to err on the side of caution.”

This week, Cambridge, which has about 35 football players on the roster, faces Catholic Central, another school that borders on having the numbers to compete.

But it’s not only the small schools dealing with the participation hits.Last week, Johnstown (N.Y.) High School, a Class B school, was forced to cancel their entire football season because of low numbers, injuries and illness that left them with 12 healthy players.

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The Burr and Burton Academy is another that has been handed a forfeit, albeit with a little more warning. The Bulldogs were scheduled to face Springfield last Saturday but the Cosmos canceled their game against Lyndon on Sept. 15 and then forfeited the rest of their season, sticking with a junior varsity schedule.

“They’re obviously in a situation where the kids aren’t safe,” said BBA football coach Jason Thomas. “But we only get nine guaranteed opportunities, and it’s tough on [our] kids when one is taken away. I definitely understand and respect their position, though.”

Thomas said when he found out, he worked with BBA athletic director Kathi Bierwirth to schedule another game.

“We called Mechanicville (N.Y.) because we knew they had an open date, but that fell through,” Thomas said. The Red Raiders played Dundee, a Section 5 school, instead.

“It would have been good to come to an agreement, but it didn’t happen. So we took the kids to Middlebury College for their game against Bowdoin. It was a good team-bonding trip,” Thomas said.

The fourth-year coach has dealt with low numbers before. In 2009, his first year coaching at BBA, he had one of the smallest rosters in Division II.

“We had 29 players in the first year of Division II and we were playing teams like CVU with 100 players,” Thomas said. “I was rolling the dice that we’d have a lot of healthy players.

“One game we only had 19 travel. I had to bring an extra lineman jersey because if we had lost one, I would have to move a tight end down.”

They made it through the season, finishing 3-6. Thankfully, Thomas said, he didn’t have to end it prematurely.

“No coach wants to make that call,” said Thomas, whose Bulldogs roster now has 45 players.

The bye week actually was a blessing in disguise, giving coaches an extra week to prepare for Saturday’s D-II finals rematch against Fair Haven.

“I’d rather play, but this gives us a chance to work on fundamentals and figure out how to stop teams from running on us,” Thomas said.

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Dan Wood, the girls soccer coach at Arlington, has to deal with a related but different problem: Poultney dropped girls soccer before this season, leaving the Eagles — who were scheduled to play 14 games — two short.

They picked up Mount St. Joseph and Long Trail very late in the process, but the open dates did not mesh well with Arlington’s schedule. As a result, the Eagles are forced to play Long Trail and defending state champion Proctor on consecutive days.

“It’s frustrating when the schedules are already made and then things change,” said Wood, whose team is 3-1 this season. “We’ll just have to try and rest the girls a little more and rotate playing time.”

At Arlington, a Division IV school, low numbers are automatically a concern. According to the 2010 school count, Arlington is in the middle of the road of D-IV with 47 female students and a third of those play soccer in the fall.

“It’s not an issue here, because soccer and basketball are the two most popular sports,” said Wood before Tuesday’s practice. “But we don’t have a junior varsity program and some of the girls would be better suited playing JV instead of just practicing and watching at the varsity level.”


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