Week 5: Athens (4-0) @ Waverly (1-3)

[toast]

^^^

You give "spin" a whole new meaning.

Waverly left their first team offense in because "the game was still somewhat in doubt". They tried the onside kick and recover it with over 3 minutes left in the game. If the long pass down the middle had went to a TD it would have been a one possession game with still over 3 minutes to play. No one questions Athens putting their first team defense back in after Waverly recovered the on-side kick.

With just seconds left in the game the classy things to do would have been to take a knee. It's really not that complicated.

[A-Town Big Dog]

We were up 22 pts. with 6 minutes left, there wasn't much doubt in my mind or anyone else not wearing Orange. Waverly tried to take advantage when we did the "classy" thing and pulled our starting defense and played our JV and even when Waverly was inside the 5 we continued to play our JV defense which you scored on. Then you attempted and recovered an onside kick showing that you wanted to play to the end, so we did. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the "spin" factor.

[crazymidgets]

a team should always play till the end no matter what, if there is time up on the clock you try to win, but when you can take a knee and end the game thats what you do also, if waverly doesnt try to win the game which with that much time on the clock they better be, they would be called quitters but when the game is no longer in doubt no timeouts, cant stop the clock then the team winning with the ball takes a knee and thats sportmanship or lack of it.

[B-dawg79]

not gonna say what number on here but athens had a player on the dline who was swinging at players almost every snap

[blubomber89]

Bdawg ask the waverly players what they were doing to sharp the entire game under the pile.

[rut151]

Athens scored with 3 seconds remaining to make it 42-21.

Just curious, but why is Athens still trying score with 3 seconds left in the game and up by 14 points? Why not just take a knee and end it? Is there bad blood between these teams or coaches? The paper said it was a 14 yard run, so I don't understand the reasoning behind scoring in that situation.

Can someone explain?

Because their head coach has no class!

[smurray]

Give it a rest folks. Waverly scored to make it 35-21 and recovered an onside kick with over 3 minutes to play. Had they scored again quickly it would have been a one score game, it doesn't matter who was in the game at that time. Waverly turned it over and Athens took over inside Waverly territory with JV's playing on both sides. One cannot criticize letting your JV's play. Regardless of the final score it was a very hard fought, physical game.

[warningtrackpower]

I have enjoyed reading this whole page. Even though I do not know much about these two teams, I have spent a lot of time on this topic for our upcoming podcast show for SVCsportszone.com's SVC Sports Talk.

Topic of running up the score is going to be a big topic on the upcoming podcast show SVC Sports Talk...here is the link to my article (read and email) - we will use some of the best on our show. http://www.svcsportszone.com/runningupthescore.html

Also, if you have not heard our first three shows, click on this link to listen...http://www.dbkmediaservices.com/wordpre ... ports-talk

[Jesco White]

I have enjoyed reading this whole page. Even though I do not know much about these two teams, I have spent a lot of time on this topic for our upcoming podcast show for SVCsportszone.com's SVC Sports Talk.

Topic of running up the score is going to be a big topic on the upcoming podcast show SVC Sports Talk...here is the link to my article (read and email) - we will use some of the best on our show. http://www.svcsportszone.com/runningupthescore.html

Also, if you have not heard our first three shows, click on this link to listen...http://www.dbkmediaservices.com/wordpre ... ports-talk

I just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed your article!! I plan to email you soon. As someone with former playing, coaching and sports writing experience (not to mention growing up in a family of coaches and spending years in multiple sports as a "ball-boy"), I've been exposed to many blow-outs. It is definitely a subject that can lead to great respect or great disdain, depending on how the situation is handled. Another variable is the human "need" to look back and often times over-analyze coaches decisions. The "real time" decisions aren't always the easiest, while "hind site is always 20/20" as the saying goes.

[gridiron fan]

The play called appreared to be an inside isolation play that was bounced outside by the backup tailback (Freddy Stalder . . . I believe NY has had a Stalder or two and knows there's no quit in those dogs) when the hole was not there. If you happened to notice him on kickoffs; the boy's motor revs high. The sophomore simply ran to the end zone. Bottom line, it's Waverly's job to stop him.

Rut151 . . . who do you consider to be a coach with class? Have you ever been in that situation to determine how you'd react? It's a lot easier to make those decisions a few days later after thinking about it, reading posts and then sit in front of a computer and spout "knowledge".

Toast . . . I saw a few Waverly boys with clean uniforms that had played the whole game; maybe that runs hand and hand with a 1 and 4 start.

In reality, the TD in question evened the point margin (+21) from the TD Waverly scored on the JV defense (not to mention the gift TD off of a poor decision from the Athens punter). Waverly's varsity offense vs. Athens' varsity defense only managed to score 7 pts . . . I'm not sure anyone in the stadium felt it was a close enough game for the Waverly staff to not match the Athens staff's gesture of putting in JV players.

[crab_apple4]

If Waverly is attempting an onside kick with 3 mins left in the game, then they are still trying win regardless if it's JV or Varsity players in the game. Athens reserve players have the right to compete and play when they get the opportunity, the same goes for Waverly. The last TD probably bothers fans more than it does the kids playing the game. If I'm a freshman or sophomore that only gets in late in the game, I want real football action... I don't want to stand there and watch people taking a knee. I think most of this thread is a non-issue and really takes away from the game itself. As for the cheap shots and personal fouls... Sometimes those things happen in physical games. It doesn't make the kids punks and or classless, but football is a violent physical game that can cause the best kids to lose their heads from time to time.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

c'mon waverly. time to set things right, bait.

[Burg_Grad_77]

I know I don't have a dog in this fight, but the thing that bothered me about the situation is 99.99999999% of coaches in that situation will just take a knee and end it. I have watched a lot of football over the years and I have seen games that were decided by 3 points or less that ended with the team that's leading inside the 5 yard line and they took a knee to end it if the other team couldn't stop the clock. It's kind of like one of those unwritten rules that you go by. I can understand everyone saying these are JV's that don't get to play much so the blame doesn't go on the kids. They are just running the play that the coaches send in. Most coaches wouldn't have called a play and would have taken the knee. That's why I asked if there was bad blood here.

[A-Town Big Dog]

I know I don't have a dog in this fight, but the thing that bothered me about the situation is 99.99999999% of coaches in that situation will just take a knee and end it. I have watched a lot of football over the years and I have seen games that were decided by 3 points or less that ended with the team that's leading inside the 5 yard line and they took a knee to end it if the other team couldn't stop the clock. It's kind of like one of those unwritten rules that you go by. I can understand everyone saying these are JV's that don't get to play much so the blame doesn't go on the kids. They are just running the play that the coaches send in. Most coaches wouldn't have called a play and would have taken the knee. That's why I asked if there was bad blood here.

No bad blood that I know of, and for the record we took a knee in every other game this season. This was only the second game we played that wasn't close at the end allowing the JV to get Friday night experience and that could have played a role in the matter as well. Now can we just let this subject go? Whatever everyones opinion is now doesn't matter anymore, this is a new week and that game is in the past. Waverly and Athens played a though physical game and both teams should be proud of that fact.