MOORE — While most of the football watching country has been focused on the offensive exploits of the New England Patriots, a true juggernaut slipped by unnoticed.
Last month Smith Center, a high school in Kansas, put on a offensive display that has never been seen before. They scored 72 points in the first quarter of Class 2-1A playoff game against Plainville.
Just let that sink in for just a moment. 72 points in 12 minutes of action. Actually, there was still 30 seconds left in the opening period when they reached that magical number.
I covered teams that were so bad that they couldn’t match the 72 points for an entire season. And somehow Smith did it in one quarter. Amazingly enough, they only won 83-0. Good things they called the dogs off.
The 72 point quarter eclipses the old National Federation of State High Schools Associations record by six points. The old record was set in 1925.
However, is this accomplishment to be praised or to be admonished?
Smith Center coach Roger Barta said he was not proud of the record and felt uneasy about the most dominating 12 minutes in football history.
“We’re not here to embarrass kids,” Barta told ESPN. “We’re not here to run up the score. That just happened. And once it started, I don’t know what to do.”
The avalanche of touchdowns Barta is referring to started with a 50 yard scoring run. Seven more offensive touchdowns quickly followed. An interception was returned 33 yards for good measure.
If Smith had just kicked extra points, they never would have reached the record. Smith converted on all nine 2-point conversions. That is truly how you rub it in.
Barta, who has won six state titles as a coach, said he didn’t want the game to get out of hand. He went as far as to tell his players in the second quarter that no one else would be crossing the goalline. They were to fall down at the five yard line and set up a field goal.
Out of everything that took place in the game, if I was on the opposing team, that is what would have sent me over the edge. While Barta may have thought he was trying mot to be mean, what he was really doing was worse.
Once the score reached into the 50 point stratosphere, there was no going back. Whether you get beat 60-0 or 100-0, it’s all the same. But as an opposing player I would at least like to say once the game was over, I never quit. That I took their best shot and even though we lost by 100, I was still in there fighting.
Yet, when Barta told his team not to score, it went from being a football game to a pity party.
As a football player, society’s representation of a gladiator, you never want another man to feel sorry for you or to take it “easy” on you. I can live with being blown out. What I wouldn’t be able to take is the other team giving less than their best to show m mercy.
For that Barta should be ashamed.
High School Sports
November 28, 2007
Mercy rule need not apply in football
Prep team sets record with 72 point quarter
- High School Sports
-
- Emotional leader Whether it’s the exuberance he shows after converting a steal into a monster dunk or the anguish from missing a game-tying shot, the Westmoore senior wears his emotions on his sleeve when he is on the hardwood.
- Getting his call More than a decade before anyone had even had serious talks about the creation of the school district’s third high school, Jensen knew would be running its football program.
- Westmoore unable to stop No. 10 Jenks at Jaguar Classic Westmoore didn’t do itself any favors when it set up the bracket for the 20th Annual Jaguar Classic.
- Bombers ravage Westmoore, 76-63 Consecutive lossess send Westmoore into tournament on a downturn
- Jags rally to beat Moore As the temperatures inside made the packed house feel like a steambath, the two teams matched the rising heat for three quarters.
- Back to work After almost two weeks off for most of the athletes in the moor School District, it’s now time to get back to work.
- Mercy rule need not apply in football When Barta told his team not to score, it went from being a football game to a pity party.
- Jaguars looking to rebound from subpar 2006-07 campaign Despite both Mobley and Marshall coming into their own last season, Westmoore ended the year with a 9-16 record.
- Call to duty Carl Franks was part of the deployment, which was the largest of an Oklahoma National Guard since the Korean War.
- Westmoore faces powerhouse Jenks in second round Westmoore and Jenks square off at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jenks’ Hunter-Dwelly Stadium.
- More High School Sports Headlines
