Overcoming the epic fail
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Covering high school sporting events never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes I think I’ve seen all there is to see. And then along comes Monday night.
But before I get into that, have you seen the video? You know the one on YouTube of the worst high school football play ever? Google “high school football fail.” It’s worth the visit.
And if you don’t want to see the video, here’s a brief description : One team has the ball at midfield and is lined up in the Shotgun formation. The QB receives the snap, runs left and makes one of the worst pitches to the trailing running back you’ll ever see. But as bad as the pitch was, the RB turns a bad play into a disaster.
To his credit, the RB makes a nice recovery of the bad pitch and hauls it down, but instead of taking a 10-yard loss, he runs toward his own end zone. With a pair of defenders in hot pursuit, the RB continues to run in the wrong direction. By the time he reaches his own team’s 10, the RB makes a lame attempt to get rid of the ball. The result is a touchdown for his opponents.
Worst football play ever? It’s got to be up there.
Which brings me to Monday night and series of plays that won’t match the ineptitude of the previous game but it did leave everyone in the War Memorial Stadium pressbox shaking their heads.
Late in the first quarter of the Sylvan Hills-Vilonia game, Sylvan Hills was facing a fourth-and-6 at its own 32. Punter Michael Maddox got off a 45-yard punt, but the play was brought back because Sylvan Hills was called for an illegal formation.
Now the Bears were facing a fourth-and-11 at their own 27. Maddox gets off a 34-yard punt and Vilonia’s Zac Mitchell returns the ball 24 yards. However, Sylvan Hills was called for an illegal shift and Vilonia was flagged for an illegal block.
Offsetting penalties. We’ll try this one more time.
Maddox punts 38 yards to the Vilonia 36. But again, Sylvan Hills is caught in an illegal formation. Another 5-yard penalty.
On his fourth attempt, Maddox gets off a clean punt and the Bears are finally lined up correctly. And there was a bonus for the Bears — Vilonia muffed the punt and Sylvan Hills recovered.
When asked about the series of miscues, Sylvan Hills Coach Jim Withrow acted as if he wanted to run and hide.
“That’s just rookies, guys,” Withrow said. “That’s just inexperience and we kept talking to them about it. … But that’s the best, I mean the absolute best, we’ve punted and protected in four weeks (of practice). I didn’t think we’d get four (punts) off.”
Withrow has no doubts that his team will show improvement in the next couple of weeks.
But while the Bears may recover from a 42-14 loss to a very good Vilonia team, the young man who did his best Jim “Wrong Way” Marshall imitation will have a tough task in attempting to overcome being an infamous internet sensation.
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