LA high school principal apologizes for 'poor sportsmanship' after her team THRASHED mis-matched rivals 106-0 and admits they should have toned their gameplay down
A Los Angeles high school principal has apologized for 'poor sportsmanship' after her team thrashed its mis-matched rivals 106-0 and admitted they should have toned their gameplay down.
Inglewood High School Principal Debbie Tate issued a statement on Monday in response to the blowout score, which was condemned by the losing coach for being 'classless'.
The team scored so many points that the scoreboard at El Camino College - where the game was played - did not have enough digits to even display the score. Instead, the final on the board read 6-0.
According to Athletic Business there's a sportsmanship rule in high school football to prevent coaches from unfairly pitting two teams against each other and thus running up hugely-disparate scores.
The rule was put into effect during the 2017 season and does not allow high schools to display game scores if a team is winning by more than 42 points.
When last Friday's Inglewood-versus-Morningside game ended and the board displayed the more-than-100 point difference, the winning team was slammed on Twitter by players, coaches and ESPN commentators.
Scoreboard at football game where Inglewood High School beat Monarch High 106-0 shows a final score of 6-0 because it didn't have space to show triple digits
Inglewood High School, which has seven players being recruited by college programs, put up 59 points in the first quarter alone against Monarch High before piling on another 57 points (scoreboard pictured reading 79-0)
According to Athletic Business there's a sportsmanship rule in high school football to prevent coaches from unfairly pitting two teams against each other and thus running up scores. The rule was put into effect during the 2017 season and does not allow high schools to display game scores if a team is winning by more than 42 points
'I apologize to the Morningside High School football team, coaches and community members as well as the Inglewood High School community for Friday night's football game,' Principal Tate's letter read.
'While Friday's game did not reflect our best judgement as administrators...the football players and their coaches have worked hard all season and deserve our respect,' it added.
Inglewood quarterback and UCLA-bound Justyn Martin (left) threw 13 touchdowns, including a two-point conversion pass with a 104-0 lead. Inglewood High School Principal Debbie Tate (right) issued a statement Monday apologizing for displaying the 106-0 score, which was slammed as showing 'poor sportsmanship'
The county administrator for the entire district Dr Erika Torres also issued a statement saying the Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) 'are saddened beyond words'.
Dr Torres also noted that the district is conducting a 'full investigation and (will) take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that a similar outcome never happens again under an IUSD athletic program'.
Inglewood High School, which has seven players being recruited by college programs, put up 59 points in the first quarter alone against Monarch High before piling on another 57 points.
'It was a classless move,' Morningside coach Brian Collins said on Saturday.
'Go play St John Bosco and Mater Dei,' he added, referring to other California high schools that would make a more formidable opposition.
'I wouldn't do that to any team - keep your quarterback commit to UCLA in until the end of the game, taking a chance with an injury,' he said, adding: 'It wasn't good sportsmanship.'
Collins was referring to Inglewood quarterback Justyn Martin, who threw 13 touchdowns, including a two-point conversion pass with a 104-0 lead - to rub salt in the wound of its city rival, which is located three miles away.
ESPN touted Martin's achievement against the lesser opponent with a tweet of the final score and a tip of the hat to Martin for throwing 13 touchdown passes.
Members of the Monarch football team of Morningside HS were pictured earlier this month
'The most a HS football game has seen in 100 years,' the tweet read.
However, famed ESPN commentator Dick Vitale quickly took the school to task and called for head coach Mil'Von James to be fired.
Inglewood High football coach Mil'Von James (pictured), a former NFL player, has not commented on why he ran up the score
'How can the coaching staff of Inglewood HS California feel good about themselves? They beat Morningside HD 106-0. Their Quarterback through [sic] 13 touchdowns and while up 104-0 they go for 2!
'Sickening and a disgrace to the title of coach. Congrats on teaching good sportsmanship. U should be fired!' said Vitale.
James, 36 - a college standout at UNLV who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cleveland Browns in 2008 but never played an NFL game - has not commented on the controversy.
Meanwhile, others on Twitter did not hold back.
'Just read about a Southern CA school winning a game 106-0, throwing 13 touchdown passes and going for 2 being up 100 points. We're supposed to be teaching young men life lessons through the game. What message was this staff teaching last night? Sad,' wrote Matt Poston.
Members of the Inglewood Sentinel football team with their coach, Mil'Von James, a former NFL player, were pictured last month during a training session
The school was criticized by users on social media who also wondered why the referees didn't implement the 'mercy rule,' which would have ended the game early and spared the humiliation
'Wow that is a crazy score. To win by 106. They should have called game after 1st 10 touchdowns. Shoot really after the first 5 touchdowns. Should out to Morningside for not quitting but dang Inglewood said hey brush no mercy Fam,' Coach Davis Sr added.
Some suggested that the referee should have intervened earlier in the game and implemented the 'mercy rule,' which would have ended the match earlier.
The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section also reprimanded Inglewood for their lack of sportsmanship.
'The CIF Southern Section expects that all athletic contests are to be conducted under the strictest code of good sportsmanship...a score of 106-0 does not represent these ideals.
'The CIF-SS condemns, in the strongest terms, results such as these. It is our expectation that the Inglewood administration will work towards putting in place an action plan so that an event such as this does not repeat itself,' it said.
Morningside's season is now over at 2-8 while Inglewood, up 8-0, are scheduled to play in the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs, as reported by USA Today.
The huge score is still nowhere near the highest of all time. In 1927, Haven High School in Kansas defeated rivals from Sylvia High School by 256-0.
The Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD), which oversees both schools, also weighed in in the aftermath stating it was 'saddened beyond words by the events' in the game
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November 06, 2021
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