Fairplay – It was straight out of the Peanuts comic strip – the car horns around the field were blaring as if Crybaby Boobie had defeated Snoopy in tennis.
Students and fans were clapping and yelling, and the players were celebrating.
Winless South Park had just scored its first points of the season on a 72-yard kickoff return by Brian Ruddle to begin the second half, then added a two-point conversion run.
Never mind the host Burros still trailed three-time defending Class 1A champion Limon by 46 points Saturday afternoon and eventually fell 66-8.
Afterward, there was no animosity between the teams, despite Limon winning its 43rd game in a row and the Burros losing their fourth in a row in 2006, while being outscored 236-8.
There were smiles all around.
“The good thing is, the kids are having fun,” South Park coach David Patrick said.
It was a laugher, a beat-down or whatever one-sided games are termed. Limon scored touchdowns on seven of its first eight possessions, led 35-0 after a quarter and both coaches agreed to employ the mercy rule – a running clock once the deficit reaches 45 or more points – when the Badgers led 48-0 with 9:13 left in the second quarter.
Ordinally, the mercy rule is not used until the second half, but it was waived by mutual consent between Patrick and Badgers coach Mike O’Dwyer.
“I wish more teams would do that,” O’Dwyer said. “It doesn’t make it good for anybody. We wanted our starters to be sharp and watch what we’re doing. I’m awful critical in a game like this if we don’t do things right. Then I know we have work to do.”
The next work for Limon is a home game Friday versus Burlington, a 2A power that dropped down and is the biggest threat to its winning streak. Saturday’s victory in the South Central League pushed the Badgers to second in Colorado 11-man annals – they surpassed the 42-game string by the 1959-62 Badgers, and only Longmont, from 1988-92, has done better. Including all classes, 8-man Stratton (48 games) has the state’s high mark.
Patrick, whose team dressed 17 players Saturday and lost yardage on its first five possessions, had no problem with the lopsided score.
“No, not at all,” he said. “(The Badgers) needed to work their starters, and that is what they did. They have to get ready for Burlington.”
No apologies necessary, added Burros senior Aaron Watters: “We’ve got such a big heart, and we were still having fun. We don’t give up. That’s a South Park tradition.”
Every weekend across the country, schoolboy teams turn in hundreds of results with wide ranges of disparity, but not all are because teams are running up the score.
“Our guys are pretty good about it,” Colorado High School Activities Association assistant commissioner Bert Borgmann said. “In this state, I think our coaches have enough experience and integrity to not try to do anything to hurt other kids. They don’t like what it does to the sport or anybody.”
O’Dwyer, whose program has been in dozens of one-sided games for decades, said, “You don’t prove anything by running up the score.”
Badgers quarterback Travis Sandersfeld said a lesson learned in all outcomes applies.
“We were just doing our job.” he said of Limon’s big lead early. “But then the second team came in and could play and that helps get the second team better. You can’t take a week off.”
Even with Limon’s second team and junior varsity earning as much time as starters on other teams, O’Dwyer said, “It helps down the road.”
Plus, the high school level has not completely evolved into a win-only situation. “The kids still love to play,” Patrick said.
Limon 35 19 0 12 – 66
South Park 0 0 8 0 – 8
L – Love 52 run (Love kick). L – Love 65 run (Love kick). L – Chittenden 15 run (Love kick). L – Sandersfeld 22 run (Love kick). L – Sandersfeld 1 run (Love kick). L – Nelson 37 run (kick failed). L – Sandersfeld 45 run (Love kick). L – Pottorff fumble recovery in end zone (pass failed). SP – Ruddle 72 kickoff return (Cavagnetto run). L – King 63 run (run failed). L – Ewing 1 run (run failed).
Neil H. Devlin can be reached at 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com.
