The students of Holly Springs learned a far more critical lesson than they ever could have learned from winning.
My curiosity has been high ever since I read the box scores of North Carolina’s high school playoff football games. Curious? How so? Holly Springs High forfeited a game, a playoff game, no less. How extraordinary!
Courtesy: WRALNews
So I did a Google search to find out why. And what I read gave me faith in school administrators. It also told me something else about some parents.
For context, know that Holly Springs had its best football season ever (10-1) and had earned a playoff spot with a bye to boot. But playoff hopes ended when school administrators found that an ineligible player had participated in the team’s last two games.
To its credit, Holly Springs self-reported the violation. The penalty was severe–forfeiting those two games–and being dropped from the state playoffs.
“Once the seeding process is complete, and the brackets have been finalized, if a team has submitted an incorrect record, and the seed is affected, that team will be removed from the bracket and no other team will be substituted in or added to the playoffs,” read NC State High School Athletic Association rules.
“This is a disappointment for the fine student-athletes on our football team, as well as our entire school,” Principal Robert Morrison said. “I’m proud that they are handling the news responsibly and with grace. I assured them that they have the support of the entire Hawks community. Nothing will ever take away their accomplishments from this season and the way they have proudly represented our school and community.”
As I see it, Mr. Morrison is the kind of high school principal we need in our schools. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy, especially when it involves such a public activity, like high school football. And, boy, did that assertion came to pass in this case.
A parent group hired lawyers who then filed a petition for a temporary restraining order. If approved, that would have allowed the football team to participate in the 4AA playoffs.
Why did the parents take this action? The answer was made explicit in the court filing. For starters, the petition read that the player in question “had no discernible impact on the outcome of the game,” and only participated in a few plays. It went on to read that forfeiting had serious implications for the other players. Among other things, “they will be deprived of a valuable opportunity to perform in front of college coaches who are seeking student-athletes to recruit to their schools, thereby losing opportunities to compete for scholarships and preferred admission to colleges and universities.”
But those arguments weren’t sufficient in the eyes of the district court judge, who denied the petition. It meant that the initial ruling would stand–Holly Springs would sit out the playoffs. But the petitioning parents believe the judge’s decision went beyond the merits of the case. “We (the parents) didn’t have the backing of the school,” parents wrote in an email sent to the families of Holly Springs players.
What’s my take? I believe we are blessed to have people like Mr. Morrison and his staff in high school administration. They did the right thing–and dared to do so–in the face of opposition.
Doing what’s right is more important than winning. And seeking to trump doing the right thing with a preference for having kids ‘perform in front of college coaches’ is, well, just plain bunk!
The students of Holly Springs learned a far more important lesson from forfeiting than they ever could have learned from winning. I know from experience how difficult it is to do what’s right, no matter how necessary. Why? Others cling tightly to something else–self-interest.
