Don’t criticize good teams for being good

There has been a lot of reaction the past couple of years in provincial media to some teams – in particular, high school teams – running up a score.

While I don’t like 120-40 games - or even worse - any more than the next person, it’s a reality in sport some teams are better than others.

One of the things that makes amateur sport so great is, at both the high school and university level, it is entirely possible for a basement team to possibly be a champion within a relatively short time.

Most critics of good teams running up the score automatically take the side of the team on the losing end. I’ll admit to feeling bad for a team losing by 70 or 80 points, but some programs are consistently good.

Take Horton. The school’s teams have been consistently competitive for a long time. Horton wins because of top-level coaching and players who, while not always the most talented, are committed to success and buy into the coaches’ system.

Last year’s Horton boys’ team could have been accused of running up scores en route to the provincial D-1 championship. This year’s team might be accused of the same thing, especially by someone who never sees them play.

I watched the Horton boys play Northumberland in a regularly scheduled Mainland Athletic Conference game Nov. 30. The score was 58-14 Horton at halftime, 66-14 four minutes into the third quarter. Head coach Tim Kendrick then benched his starters as Horton won 91-45.

The scenario was similar the next day against CEC, normally one of the more competitive D-1 programs in the province but rebuilding this year. The final score was 97-48 in Horton’s favour.

Every so often, everything comes together with what former Horton D-1 girls’ head coach Bev Greenlaw describes as a team of “era players.” He had such a collection of student/ athletes when Horton won back-to-back provincial D-1 girls’ titles in 2005 and 2006. The St. Pat’s boys’ team that won three straight provinical banners earlier this decade had the same kind of makeup. Kendrick arguably had the same combination last year – and I can’t think of anyone that wasn’t pleased as punch last March to see him finally win a provincial championship after 19 years of coaching and countless top-two and top-three finishes.

This year’s Horton team is another powerhouse: it’s won its first eight games of the season, most of them by fairly lopsided scores.

I spoke with Kendrick recently about teams running up the score, in either a real or perceived fashion. His reply was he has never deliberately run up the score against an obviously inferior opponent. I believe him.

Horton is required to play teams in its own region and in the MAC conference each season, and the reality is, some of these teams don’t have the players - or the overall commitment - the Griffins program does.

Kendrick feels part of the onus has to be put on opposing teams, if they want to compete with the best, to do what’s necessary, to become more competitive.

Good teams and good players need to play the same way against every opponent. Unfortunately, when a very good team plays a poor or rebuilding team, the result is often embarrassing.

Only if you take it that way.

Some Division 2 (or even lower) teams make a habit of scheduling as many games as possible with teams in higher classifications, win or lose, for the experience. Central Kings, in Division 2, and Lockeport, a D-4 school, have this kind of mentality - and have had their fair share of success at the provincial level as a result.