MANSFIELD — The Rams got to celebrate a little earlier than expected last week, becoming a footnote in Richland County high school football history along the way.
Madison’s 34-0 win over Shelby at Skiles Field was noteworthy because the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s newly-adopted point differential rule was enforced for the final 4:29 of the fourth quarter.
The rule takes effect when a team leads by 30 or more points in the second half. The game clock continues to run in situations when it would normally stop, like when a ball carrier is forced out of bounds, a pass falls incomplete or the yard markers are reset after a first down.
“It happened so late in the game that we barely noticed,” Madison coach Sean Conway said. “Those final few minutes of the fourth quarter went a lot quicker.”
The rule came into play in 114 of the 375 game played during the first week of the season, OHSAA assistant commissioner Beau Rugg said.
“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback during the preseason and during the past week and it has been mostly positive,” said Rugg, the OHSAA’s administrator for football. “I was at a game where the point different rule went into effect at Upper Arlington (a 36-0 win over Dublin Jerome). I was standing next to the Upper Arlington superintendent and he marveled at how the tension was out of the game.
“Some coaches have said that, in a situation where the rule is in effect, they weren’t able to get all of their seniors into a game because the clock continued to run. The clock still stops on change of possession. It will just take some getting used to.”
Madison’s longtime coach, Conway has been on both sides of lopsided scores. He is on the fence about the new “mercy rule,” which was enacted in May.
“I understand completely why the OHSAA is doing it,” Conway said. “You don’t want anyone to get embarrassed and you want to keep kids safe, but I’m not sure you need to alter the rules of the game.
“If the score starts to get out of hand, there is normally a courtesy among coaches.”
Ontario coach Scott Kreger agreed.
“We have been in situations in the past where we were winning by a wide margin and in those situations we run very basic plays,” said Kreger, whose Warriors opened the season with a 33-21 win over county rival Lexington. “We’ll run straight dive plays right into the line of scrimmage.”
Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll isn’t a fan of the rule. The Colts’ had a running clock in the second half of a freshman game last week.
“We were ahead and we wanted to experiment with some guys in different spots, but we only got the ball twice in the second half,” Carroll said. “Normally we would use that time to teach, but with a running clock you don’t have time.”
Like Carroll, Galion coach Chris Hawkins is concerned about the loss of opportunities. The Tigers visit Madison this week.
“A lot of schools don’t have enough kids to field a junior varsity team,” Hawkins said. “So we are shortening games on Friday nights and not playing on Saturday mornings. The kids are getting cheated out of reps.
“We would like to get the younger kids some Friday night action.”
For small-school coaches, the rule can be a blessing. Injuries to key personnel late in lopsided games can be devastating to school with a small roster.
“I’m a big supporter of the rule,” Plymouth coach Mark Genders said. “Any time you play small-school football and you’ve got 29 kids and there is a situation like that, I think the clock should run.”
The OHSAA will continue to seek input from coaches, Rugg said.
“A lot of people were concerned that 30 points wasn’t enough, but have you ever met a coach who thought his team couldn’t come back?” he said. “We are always willing to revisit it after the season. We want to get it right.”
