Serra High has chosen to forfeit tonight's CCS Open Division Consolation title game against Milpitas, rather than risk injury to players on either of the teams, according to news releases from Serra and the CCS office.
The move by the Padres adds fuel to the controversy over whether the Open consolation bracket should exist as well as the future of the Open Division as a whole, say multiple sources interviewed by Prep2Prep over the past two days. It also leaves open the possibility Serra may be sanctioned by CCS for forfeiting the game, including possibly being banned from next year's playoffs. Still, Serra coach Patrick Walsh and school officials are at peace with their decision.
“I love football and I love Serra High School with all my heart,” Walsh said via a school release. "Most important, I love the kids who are entrusted to me on a yearly basis and their families. I stand behind my decision to forfeit tonight’s football game, and I am grateful for the support of the Serra administration. It is my duty to prepare, guide and ultimately protect the well-being of the student-athletes. I struggled with this for two weeks, and ultimately determined that I can’t justify one injured Serra or Milpitas player in a consolation football game. I know there will be many questions. However, I can only guarantee one thing – and this is the only thing I care about – when my head hits the pillow this evening, I will know that a healthy kid in another house is sleeping soundly.”
Walsh said tonight, about an hour before what would have been the kickoff at Milpitas, he wrestled with the decision until 4 a.m. this morning and then sent an email to his administration expressing his desire not to play. He said the Serra administration informed Milpitas of the choice at about 11:30 a.m.
Serra played a consolation bracket game last Friday afternoon against Palma in Salinas and won 28-14. But it's common knowledge the teams treated the game as a glorified scrimmage, with punts directed out of bounds, many seniors not playing and underclassmen dominating the action.
"With every snap against Palma I was saying 'This is so wrong,'" Walsh said. "On the first play of the Palma game -- it wasn't malicious or anything -- but Leki Nunn was horse-collared. He wasn't hurt, but it ate at me."
Nunn is Serra's star sophomore utility player.
Regarding the timing of the decision, Walsh said: "In a perfect world it would have been made way before (the day of the game) and I regret it wasn't done sooner. I'm fearful of sanctions against next year's team and I would have liked to have been able to make a strong, firm decision earlier, but I just didn't get there that fast."
Walsh said Milpitas was disappointed by the news, expressing a desire to play the game.
Serra principal Barry Thornton backed Walsh's decision -- though the announcement and timing was jarring, coming the day of the game with Milpitas players primed to play the home contest.
"The safety of our players is our No. 1 concern,” Thornton said. "After careful thought and discussion this week, we have agreed that this is the right decision based on the right reasons. Playing in a post-season tournament that does not lead to a championship opportunity is not in the best interest of our student-athletes. Given the nature of football, it does not seem worth the risk to our students."
The San Jose Mercury today on its web site reported the CCS sent a memo to schools telling them they could face sanctions involving playoff eligibility next season if they did not show for a game they're scheduled to play.
"Every school has the right not to enter playoffs," CCS commissioner Nancy Lazenby Blaser told the Mercury. ""But once you take a spot in the playoffs, then you're obligated to fulfill all the games that you're scheduled to play in that format."
Unfortunately for 2013 Open champion Serra the format for the playoffs this season includes consolation games, as decided by the Board of Mangers several months ago. Walsh was very outspoken against the consolation bracket at the time, wondering aloud to Prep2Prep what would happen if Serra were to play Valley Christian in a consolation game and both teams decided to take a knee 96 times.
Thursday night's third-place consolation game between Valley Christian and Los Gatos seemed to have a bit more integrity than the Serra vs. Palma game, but Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said he gave his players the option of moving on to their winter sports or simply not playing and that he was missing nine starters.
"If it means something, that's one thing," Machado said immediately after the game. "But when you come out like this it's just a little tough. I understand that's what they voted on, so we had to deal with it, so we did."
Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said he had agreements with Machado regarding alternating first- and second-string teams according to quarter, not blitzing etc.
Valley Christian did not even bother to wear the correct type of cleats to handle Los Gatos' sloppy natural turf, leading to constant slipping during the one-sided game.
Machado said the bigger picture is that some players wanted to move on after the disappointment of the previous week's loss to Bellarmine and that a handful of his players did not want to risk injury.
"There have been winter coaches waiting for their guys and our basketball players kind of did both (practices) this week," Machado said. " But we have some guys who are going to go on and play and some of the guys thought it wasn't in their best interest to play."
Krail said Los Gatos looked at the third-place game as an opportunity.
"Whether this consolation thing is here to stay who knows, but we just tried to make the best of this week. It just got back to let's go out there and have some fun. Let's go run around and have fun."
Added Krail regarding the consolation bracket in general: "I'm not a big fan. Maybe conceptually it has some merit to it, but we'll see. I've been giving this a lot of thought and I think if there is an Open Division non-winner that gets considered (for CIF-State bowl competition) it needs to be the loser in the (Open title) game. That's the only game you can guarantee that both teams are giving it everything they have."
By mid-day today, after the Serra forfeiture news broke, Krail was calling the situation "unfortunate" -- an opinion many Milpitas fans and players no doubt share.
"Mike (Machado and I were able to set some parameters for how we were going to handle our game and apparently they (Serra and Milpitas) were not." Krail said. "I think in a perfect world we'd not play the game (vs. Valley). But we were given the task of playing and as professionals we agreed it was the right thing to do. Thank God nobody got hurt, given the condition of the field and the rain. I will say that it was a positive night for our kids because it helped wipe away the taste of last week."
Krail, who is widely respected in the greater Bay Area coaching community, said he had a few conversations with Walsh during the week regarding the possibility of injuries in what some consider a meaningless game.
Milpitas coach Kelly King did not return a call left on his cell phone seeking comment, but Trojan assistant coach Vito Cangemi did. Cangemi said the issue is less about injuries and a forfeit and more about the Open Division itself which he thinks should not exist. His contention is the Open Division cuts down on the number of CCS teams that can possibly make the CIF-State bowl derby when compared to other sections that don't have an Open Division and go simply by enrollment.
"I heard (Serra) canceled and decided to forfeit," Canjemi said shortly after noon today. "I think it all stems from the decision to have a consolation round. The Open Division needs to go away."
Canjemi thinks having strictly enrollment-based divisions with no Open makes sense because some public schools are as at least as strong as the best of the WCAL and that having strictly enrollment divisions might have produced some compelling game pitting WCAL and public schools. The results partially bear Canjemi out as Milpitas defeated two of the three WCAL teams it played season and Los Gatos knocked off three WCAL schools.
The problem many CCS coaches had with a consolation bracket is that it was instituted as a sort of trial run for next season when possibly the door will be opened for non-section winners to be accepted to play in regional games.
"I was part of the committee that voted for enrollment-based playoffs," Krail said. "But it didn't make it through the Board of Managers. They decided to tweak the Open Division and come up with something to help teams forced into the Open Division qualify for NorCal games (in future years). But the flawed idea to me was the trial run (this season). That was unsettling to me."
Raising eyebrows last season was Terra Nova finishing first in league and Sacred Heart Prep second, and yet TN was forced into the Open Division where it was routed by Valley Christian. Meantime SHP sailed through its enrollment division and wound up playing for a state playoff bowl title in Carson.
All of this is little consolation to the Milpitas players and coaches who prepared for a game against Serra tonight, only to be informed late it has been canceled. Serra communications director Antonia Ehlers said today the difficulty of making the decision delayed the choice made by the all-boys Catholic school that counts Lynn Swann, Barry Bonds and Tom Brady among its alumni.
Milpitas, as Walsh was mulling what to do, was preparing for a game as usual, including on Thursday night holding its elaborate weekly team dinner, organized in part by Sandi Scrempos, mother of Trojan star Jason Scrempos.
Sandi only learned of the forfeit via Tweets by Prep2Prep.com and the Milpitas Post newspaper, she said.
"I hear Serra isn't playing because they might possibly get players hurt," Sandi said by phone today. "I think it's wrong. The kids were looking forward to it and it's not fair to cancel the day of the game. The kids were hyped up and it was the last game for the seniors; it's sad. All the kids wanted to play and all the coaches wanted to play."
