When South Whidbey football’s season began, coaches and players knew there would be some challenges ahead. Among the biggest was fielding a young, inexperienced and small Falcon squad following a 1-9 season in 2015.
They didn’t know a giant would also be standing in their way.
The Falcons (0-4 overall, 0-2 in the Cascade Conference) forfeited their game against Archbishop Murphy on Friday night due to a scarce roster and a competitive disadvantage, administrators said. The Class 2A Wildcats (4-0, 2-0 in league) are currently on a tear nearing the midpoint of the season, outscoring their first three opponents 170-0. South Whidbey, a Class 1A school, has only 14 players that can suit up and play varsity and has been outscored 109-22 in its three losses.
The Falcons’ next game is on Friday, Sept. 30 against King’s.
While there are roughly 20 freshmen on the Falcon roster, Athletic Director Paul Lagerstedt said it was decided at the beginning of the season that they would not see the field.
The Wildcats were co-leaders in a recent Associated Press Class 2A state poll along with Tumwater, and consistently travel to the Tacoma Dome to compete for a state championship.
Lagerstedt said some consider it to be the best Wildcats team ever.
“We’re looking at a really uniquely talented Archbishop Murphy team,” Lagerstedt said. “It was such an overwhelming disadvantage. They weren’t going to get anything out of the game, we weren’t [either.]
“With 14 players, it just wasn’t a game that needed to be played,” he added.
South Whidbey is not alone in dodging the freight train that is Archbishop Murphy. Sultan High School will also forfeit its Sept. 30 matchup with the Wildcats.
‘It’s very similar to South Whidbey; it’s a competitive disadvantage and we’re concerned with player safety in that matchup,” Sultan Athletic Director Scott Sifferman said.
The decision
The Falcons’ forfeit was decided administratively and players were not given input, Lagerstedt said. South Whidbey head coach Michael Coe declined to comment and deferred to Lagerstedt.
“I don’t think a vote was appropriate,” Lagerstedt said.
Also, in a unusual move, administrators declined to allow a Record reporter to interview players without first acquiring parental consent. Lagerstedt cited concerns that players might be put in the awkward position of commenting on what could be considered a controversial administrative decision.
South Whidbey senior defensive lineman Chase Barthlett said that while he understood the circumstances of the forfeit, he felt the team should have been involved in the decision process.
“I was more pissed off because, I mean, I felt like it should have been a team vote,” Barthlett said. “We’re the ones who are actually playing.”
South Whidbey senior running back and linebacker Hunter Newman, who led the league in tackles last season but suffered a medial collateral ligament tear to his right knee against Chimacum on Sept. 9, also acknowledged that just a few injuries could put the Falcons in jeopardy of fielding a full team for the rest of the season. But, he too felt the Falcons should have had a say.
Lagerstedt said the decision was made in the best interest of the players. He understood and even commended the Falcons for their eagerness to play despite the odds.
“I’m proud of those guys and I wouldn’t expect them to feel any other way,” Lagerstedt said. “Part of my job is to do what’s best for the program and what’s best for the kids. Certainly, I understand their perspective and appreciate their perspective. My job includes a different perspective.”
When asked if player safety was also a concern, he declined to comment other than to make the following statement:
“I just felt like the overwhelming disadvantage we had in that game was not a healthy situation for us to be in, and I mean that in the broadest of sense,” Lagerstedt said.
The Falcons’ program has fallen since South Whidbey beat the Wildcats 22-21 in 2013 for the first time in school history. They’ve managed just three wins in three years with two different head coaches — Coe and one-year-and-done Chris Tormey, who now coaches linebackers for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League.
Andy Davis, who coached the Falcons alongside Mark Hodson for 14 years before they retired after the 2013 season, felt the forfeit was justified.
“From an administrative standpoint, I think it’s pretty courageous to pull the plug,” Davis said. “We’ve had years in the past where it’s been close to that. For the safety of the kids, I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Jon Chapman, a 1985 graduate of South Whidbey and former player, said that from what he’s heard, the community understands and supports the decision. He’s watched from the sidelines as the Falcon teams have gotten smaller and smaller, which he said could also be attributed to a decade-long decline in enrollment in the South Whidbey School District.
“I hate to see it happen,” Chapman said. “I’ve been on the sidelines for 38 years and it has never happened before. I understand they’re working on rebuilding the football program. They have low numbers this year and if they have too many injuries, the rest of the season could be over.”
Darci Chowen, mother of senior receiver and defensive back Connor Antich, said she too supported the forfeit.
“AMHS is playing in the wrong league,” Chowen said. “It’s sad for the kids that we’re not able to play them.”
“I don’t want anybody to get injured,” she added.
Sultan was 3-0 entering its game against Cascade on Friday night and had outscored its first three opponents 123-20. Underneath the Turks’ unblemished record, however, lies another similarity to the Falcons.
Sifferman said the Turks have roughly 14 players who can suit up for varsity. While they have competed well against schools similar to its size, it’s sometimes a different story against 2A schools, and particularly against Archbishop Murphy.
“Nobody wants to be in this position,” Sifferman said. “But, when you think about the impact of some of the kids, you have to make the decision that’s in the best interest of that.”
Out of their league
Davis and Chapman said the Falcons have no business playing against 2A-sized schools.
“My preference is let’s get rid of the 2As,” said Davis, who is head coach of the girls basketball team. “Let’s worry about 1A schools and start with that. I think it’s tough going with a smaller school against a school twice the size.”
Boys soccer head coach Emerson Robbins felt the forfeit was more about the advantage that private schools have over public schools.
“When a small, isolated, rural school competes against wealthy private schools that have the ability to recruit and draw from a greater area, it’s not a level playing field,” Robbins said. “Honestly, they’re probably doing the right thing forfeiting.”
“This issue has nothing to do with 2A schools. It has to do with private schools that are athletic powerhouses. We even lose some of our best athletes to Archbishop Murphy. These private schools have clear advantages. It’s not simply about them dominating the league in terms of competition, but the greater question is what is the danger to the health and safety of our student-athletes when they’re competing against future Division I athletes in contact sports?”
Principal John Patton said leaving the conference for a more balanced league is a tricky subject.
“Regionally, you don’t have a lot of choices,” Patton said.
Patton said the Olympic League, which Coupeville competes in, would be difficult to join due to travel restrictions with the Port Townsend ferry. According to its ferry schedule, the last ferry to leave Port Townsend is at 10 p.m. Football games, which typically begin at 7 p.m., can last anywhere from two and 1/2 to three hours on average.
As it turns out, the Falcons may not need to look elsewhere. Discussions about a possible Cascade Conference realignment may resume soon, Sifferman said.
A proposed football-only league that would have split 1A and 2A schools from the Cascade Conference and the Northwest Conference into two divisions was discussed last winter, but voted down 5-3 by principals of schools in the Cascade Conference in January 2016.
The realignment would have put South Whidbey in a 1A league with Cedar Park Christian, King’s, Lynden Christian, Meridian, Mount Baker, Nooksack Valley and Sultan.
Sifferman said similar talks amongst the league’s schools have reemerged, given the current state of the league. According to the Everett Herald, King’s also considered forfeiting to the Wildcats but players opted against it. Sifferman said that things might be different this time around.
“I would like to think we would have a different outcome,” Sifferman said.
The Wildcats are considered 1A in enrollment, but opt-up to compete in 2A. Sifferman said Archbishop Murphy has tried to look for opportunities to play more at its level, but has not yielded any landing spots.
Barthlett thought another route could be taken.
“Every one of us talks about how private schools should have their own league,” Barthlett said. “Archbishop just recruited another running back; now they have two top state running backs. This is overkill.”
“It becomes like an NFL team in high school,” he added.
