The entire landscape of high school football in the state of Ohio saw a sudden, unexpected shift just two days prior to the final game of the regular season. Schools like Norton and Garfield were forced to forfeit games that were previously canceled due to health and safety concerns.
They are being punished for doing the right thing.
This controversial high school football ruling leaves the entire state in disarray. Teams that sat pretty at the top of the standings are now set to receive a lower seed in the playoffs because they tried to do the right thing.
High school football teams keep quitting.
There is a nationwide trend involving powerhouse programs that sets a concerning precedent. A large number of these inferior teams are choosing to preemptively cancel its games against better opponents for “safety concerns” because they either do not want to take a beating during a blowout loss and/or they do not have enough healthy players to field a competitive lineup.
It is not only happening in Ohio, but also in states like Alabama and Nebraska, among others.
In an effort to correct some of these falsified results, the Ohio High School Athletic Association made a surprising ruling with just a few days left in the regular season. The OHSAA decided to change the result of games that were previously canceled to forfeits. One team wins. One team loses.
That might seem fair on the surface. A team that simply did not want to play should be forced to forfeit.
However, there are multiple games that were canceled for legitimate health reasons. The schools involved with those cancellations are now being punished— or rewarded.
The playoff standings in Ohio look completely different.
Norton High School was hit the hardest by this sudden reversal. The Panthers were ranked No. 1 in Division IV, Region 13 with an undefeated record of 8-0 as of just 48 hours ago.
They dropped from first to fifth in the region after the OHSAA retroactively changed their Week 1 no-contest into a forfeit loss.
Norton was scheduled to play Northwest in the first week of the season. The former decided to cancel the game due to a case of hand, foot, and mouth disease within the locker room. It only after consulting with the school nurse, county health department and the OHSAA. The OHSAA initially approved the no-contest that has since been overturned.
Garfield High School had a similar situation with the viral disease in Week 2. Akron Public Schools recommended the high school football game against Revere be canceled. It was ruled a no-contest.
The OHSAA has since awarded Garfield with a forfeit loss. The loss drops the Golden Rams to 18th in Division II, Region 5 and will cost them an opportunity to play into the postseason.
St. Vincent-St. Mary suffered the same fate with far less consequence. It canceled a game in Week 8 against Canal Winchester Harvest Preparatory. Players were dealing with a bacterial skin infection. The Akron Children’s Hospital athletic training staff suggested the game not be played for health reasons.
The OHSAA changed the result to a forfeit loss. St. Vincent-St. Mary dropped to 0-8.
These are just three of the most impactful rulings. This massive shakeup across the entire state had a huge impact on the state playoff picture and rankings. Some teams, like Garfield, will miss out on the postseason all together. Others will get a higher seed it did not earn.
Is it better to ignore health and safety concerns?
By changing the rules after nine weeks of the regular season, the Ohio High School Athletics Association sets a concerning precedent. It effectively punished schools for following its own guidance and the guidance of legitimate health officials.
Meanwhile, the OHSAA still expects teams to follow its guidelines moving forward.
“At all times, we expect our teams and our schools to keep kids out if they are not able to play and not healthy to play,” OHSAA Director of Media Relations Tim Stried told the Akron Beacon Journal. “That doesn’t change. If a student-athlete is sick or injured, that is a school decision, that is a medical decision with the school, and if the student-athlete shouldn’t play, he or she shouldn’t play. We don’t want kids to play who shouldn’t, but in a lot of cases you keep a kid out who can’t play and then the backup goes in and plays.”
Why would they?
If a team is going to be retroactively punished for canceling a game for health reasons, it seems like the OHSAA is encouraging those teams to avoid such punishment in the future by playing the game anyway. Otherwise, they could have the playoffs stripped out from under them just a few days before the final game of the regular season.