TERRY COLUMN: Sometimes blowouts happen

The sportsmanship police arrived before the game had even finished.

Glacier football led Missoula Hellgate 60-0 at halftime last Friday, the midway point of a blowout that ended 77-8.

The score likely shouldn’t have even been that close, given the Wolfpack pulled its starters 16 minutes into the 48-minute contest, opting instead to call run plays with its sub-varsity teams for the remainder.

Such is the etiquette of the sport. With the win clearly in hand, there’s no reason to rub it in. Instead, play the kids that need experience for the future and make sure everybody leaves healthy and as soon as possible.

Let’s get this out of the way.

Some high school teams aren’t good.

Whatever the reason: lack of talent pool, lack of coaching, injuries, unfortunate circumstances; some teams just aren’t going to compete on the same level as their competition.

Many of those factors came in to play during the game. Losing isn’t a new proposition for the Knights, who have lost their last 28 games dating back to Week 7 in 2012.

The Knights starters played the entire contest, scoring in the final two minutes to prevent a shutout. The final heave came against freshmen and sophomores, some of which weren’t listed on the roster.

Put shortly, Hellgate, as hard as it tries, is not a very good football team.

Still, when the score began to get out of hand on Friday night at Legends Stadium, the criticism was instant.

“Any sportsmanship in football?” “Who does that?” “Absolutely terrible sportsmanship, doesn’t matter who the opponent is.”

Except it does matter who the opponent is.

Any game is a give and take between two teams. In the best games, both teams bring equal talent, coaching and effort and tend to produce an exciting product. In the typical blowout, one team can overwhelm the other.

Still, it’s on the other team to meet in the middle. Eventually, they have to do something to keep the other team from scoring.

There were short fields: Glacier started nine straight drives in Hellgate territory, with an average starting spot of the Knights 28-yard line. The Wolfpack scored on eight of those drives, but needed three plays or less on six of them.

The final touchdown came when Hellgate’s starting offense sent an errant pitch into the arms of Glacier’s third-string defense, which outran the Knights to the other end of the field for a score.

Hellgate was giving the game away just as much as Glacier was taking it on Friday.

Which brings us back to sportsmanship.

At what point do we start to blame the losing side for the lopsided score? Other than putting in the second, third and fourth strings and calling running plays, what is the winning coach supposed to do to lessen the hurt? When you’re trying to do the sporting thing, and the score keeps getting worse, is it still bad sportsmanship?

What are the alternatives?

To kneel out the game before the final few minutes is a slap in the face, taunting the other team. To play at less than full speed, even with the backups, could cause an injury or be considered patronizing.

Let the other team score pity points? Suggest a forfeit at halftime?

Sometimes, even when everything possible is done to lessen the outcome, blowouts happen.

Without a running clock mercy rule in Class AA, they sometimes look even worse.

Hellgate has given up at least 55 points three times in five games this season. The Knights host Flathead this week, facing a Braves team that has averaged more than 40 points in its three wins this season.

The Braves will also likely win by a large margin, even if they play their backups.

Blowouts happen, and for most of the parties involved, including the media reporting on them, they are not fun.

They also aren’t always affronts to sportsmanship and the etiquette of the game.

So, next time you see a score that may look a little lopsided, it probably has a story behind it.