A football team is being accused of bullying on the field after they defeated an outmatched opponent 91-0 this week.
The game took place within the Mecca of high school football, central Texas, and showcased one of the top teams in the state going against a winless squad.
Aledo High School, a Texas powerhouse that has an unbeaten record, was facing the winless Western Hills High School. The game was out of hand early, with Aledo leading 56-0 at halftime .
Aledo’s coach, Tim Buchanan, said he tried his best to keep the final score in check.
“It wasn’t good for anybody,” Buchanan said. “I’ve sat and gone over and over and over it on what we could have done differently. The score could have very easily been 150 to nothing.”
Buchanan said he took out his starters in the third quarter and went ultra-conservative with his playcalling — everything short of kneeling the ball down on every play.
But it still wasn’t enough for one Western Hills parent, who accused the football team of bullying and filed a formal complaint with the state high school sports governing body. The report claims that the bullying football team showed the exact opposite of sportsmanship.
“We all witnessed bullying firsthand, it is not a pretty sight,” the complaint read. “I did not know what to say on the ride home to explain the behavior of the Aledo coaches for not easing up when the game was in hand.”
But the victory wasn’t too far off from Aledo’s normal game. The team is averaging a shade under 70 points her game, and even its third string is better than many other team’s starters. Buchanan said he would never have asked his players to back off or play at half speed, which would leave them vulnerable to injuries
“I’m not gonna tell a kid that comes out here and practices six to seven hours a week trying to get ready for football games ‘Hey, you can’t score a touchdown if you get in, you’re gonna have to take a knee,’ cause that may be the only touchdown that kid gets to score in his high school career,” Buchanan told MyFoxDFW.com.
Texas has no mercy rule for high school football, so the game had to be played to completion.
The incident is reminiscent of another, admittedly bullying high school football team from Utah. Earlier this year the coach of Union High School suspended his entire team after a bullying incident, requiring them to make a public apology and conduct community service work before they could be reinstated.
