By John Clark
Sports in the time of COVID-19 has been wild and wacky. Numerous postponements have occurred due to the coronavirus and contact tracing plus the wet fields created by our winter monsoon season.
It was great that the kids were given opportunities to play even though you never knew when your favorite team would be unexpectedly shut down for a pause. Of the 5 Three Rivers Conference basketball teams who qualified for the state playoffs, only one (Red Springs boys) lost on the court. The other four had their seasons ended by forfeits caused by coronavirus protocols.
This Friday the men’s soccer season will end, and the last-minute maneuvering has really been something.
East Bladen’s Eagles entered Monday’s game at Red Springs unbeaten and unscored upon, but the Eagles gave up 2 first half goals then had 4 apparent goals taken off the board by various rulings as Red Springs prevailed 2-1. St. Pauls blitzed Red Springs 7-1 Wednesday, while East Bladen was blanking West Bladen 6-0.
After Wednesday’s play St. Pauls owned a 4-1 record in Three Rivers play, East Bladen was 3-1 and Red Springs was only 1-1 in league play. To a lifelong baseball fan, you have a 3-way tie in the loss column, how do you break it? In the time of COVID you play more games and who can play the most wins.
Red Springs improved to 2-1 with a win over Whiteville Thursday. Last week East Bladen had scheduled a make-up game with Whiteville for Friday, March 12. However, Whiteville had asked out of that game because of a conflict with a girls’ soccer scrimmage that Friday.
Monday East Bladen replaced the Whiteville make-up game with a make-up game against West Columbus on Friday, March 12. If East Bladen wins, they match St. Pauls 4-1 record, and the Bulldogs and Eagles are co-champions.
East Bladen would get the No. 1 seed for the playoffs due to their head-to-head win against the Bulldogs and St. Pauls would be No. 2 seed. However, seeding in the time of COVID is a blind draw, so there is no advantage to being a No.1 or No. 2.
Satisfactory ending for everybody, right – both are co-champions, and they have the same chance of luck in the seeding. As Coach (Lee) Corso would say on College GameDay, “Not so fast, my friend.”
According to sources in Columbus County (not at the school), Whiteville received a call from the NCHSAA Thursday morning and was ordered to play a make-up game with St. Pauls Friday afternoon. Why? East Bladen and St. Pauls had played the same number of conference games and had settled the matter head-to-head on the field.
If St. Pauls wins Friday, the Bulldogs will improve to 5-1, while East Bladen can only post a 4-1 record with a victory over West Columbus Friday. The only thing that changes if that happens is that St. Pauls wins the conference (and the conference trophy) and their coach becomes the Coach of the Year because the Three Rivers automatically gives that award to the coach of the conference champion.
The seeding changes in that St. Pauls would be No. 1 and East Bladen No. 2, but remember it is a blind draw – really there is no advantage in the seeding.
So, who called and got the NCHSAA involved – that is pretty obvious but you make your own deductions. However, I doubt that the situation was as clearly explained to the NCHSAA Thursday morning as I have outlined above. I really can’t see the NCHSAA going along with ordering an extra game just so a team can play one more game than the team they are competing with and possibly win a championship by creative scheduling rather than on the soccer field.
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