<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1wMo57_0vkPHOK800" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1wMo57_0vkPHOK800" width="780" height="520" ><figcaption>Hillsboro running back Chris Duncan tears off a long gain against MICDS on Aug. 30. The MSHSAA has ruled that despite the game being postponed that night because of storms, the Rams won 21-14. Ron Rigdon photo</figcaption></figure>When the skies opened up over the Hillsboro football home game Sept. 20, Hawk fans had to be thinking, “Not again!”For the third time in three games at Hillsboro since Aug. 30, it rained, and not just a few sprinkles. An ominous gray cloudbank started to form before the 7 p.m. kickoff against visiting North County, and a few minutes after the game started, fans were forced to seek shelter outside the stadium as the storm whipped through. After an hour’s delay, Mother Nature relented and the hosts came from behind to win 35-14.The season-opening outcome against MICDS is still disputed by the Hawks. After lightning shut down the Aug. 30 game in the third quarter with the Rams leading 21-14, it wasn’t resumed that night, nor the next day despite Hillsboro head coach Bill Sucharski’s pleas to the private school in St. Louis County and the Missouri State High School Activities Association.It also rained during the Hawks’ 37-7 win over visiting Washington on Friday the 13th, but there was no lightning and no delay.The big difference between the MICDS contest and the North County game is that in the latter the delay struck when the game was scoreless. That meant it would either have to be continued that night, the next day or sometime before districts begin.If I’ve learned anything about the dilemma Sucharski and his brother,Hillsboro AD Brian Sucharski, find themselves in, it’s this: If a team is leading a football game at any point, and for whatever reason the contest doesn’t reach its conclusion on the field, the team that’s ahead wins, and there’s nothing the losing team can do about it.Except lodge a complaint with MSHSAA, which the Sucharskis did when MICDS wouldn’t agree to complete the game. In speaking with Lou Mazzocco, an assistant executive director at MSHSAA who oversees football, I learned Hillsboro’s appeal to force the Rams to play has been denied.“Hillsboro is hooked onto a wording change in the manual dealing with forfeits where a team refuses to take the field. I’ve got to fix that (in the bylaws),” Mazzocco said.Mazzocco said MSHSAA is following guidelines set by the National Federation of State High School Associations.“If a game cannot be rescheduled, the score (stands) at the time of suspension,” Mazzocco said. “Therefore the game was suspended at 21-14 in favor of MICDS. I understand Hillsboro wants to reschedule, but MICDS is saying they don’t have the time to reschedule and that’s their prerogative. The power lies with the team leading when the game is suspended. Changing it to ‘no contest’ puts power into the hands of teams who are behind, so we’re changing one thing for another.”I asked Mazzocco if the state football rules committee considered putting a time requirement into the bylaws, not unlike a baseball or soccer game. Either make one full half or three quarters a complete game. That would wash away any ambiguity for both sides.Absolutely not, he said. Mazzocco has served on a national rules committee for four years.“In most sports with a minimum length, that’s a national rule unless the run rules apply. In soccer, you have to play at least a half. In football, if one team kicks off to the other and the other team returns it 90 yards for a touchdown and the heavens open up and they can’t continue, that’s a 6-0 win.”Mazzocco reminded me that all of the MSHSAA bylaws are considered and voted on by the member schools, and Hillsboro can submit an agenda item to propose a rule whereby suspended football games can come to a more logical and equitable resolution.Bill Sucharski said his biggest gripe about not completing the game is it cheats his players out of not only the chance to win, but also valuable playing time because there are only 10 games in a football season, except for teams advancing in the playoffs. The baseball and basketball seasons are two to three times longer.“In my 25 years as a coach of both (football and basketball), I’ve never been a part of a game that wasn’t finished because one team wouldn’t agree to,” he said.MSHSAA’s bylaws and policies are all driven by what the member schools want. Bylaws are derived from expert advisories on such priorities as the athletes’ health and safety of play. Some proposals find their way into actual state legislation, such as Missouri’s transgender-athlete law, for which MSHSAA already had a policy in place.Mazzocco said a potential bylaw change in basketball is a mandated shot clock, long a standard at all levels of the game above high school. He said that’s a split decision, with the coaches being “desperate” for it while school administrators turn thumbs down because of the expense of installation, operation and maintenance.“Lots of people think we make the rules,” he said. “We interpret and enforce the rules, but they come from the member schools.”This was the first year of a two-year scheduling cycle, but Hillsboro already has replaced MICDS on its 2025 football schedule with Moberly.The biggest shame in all of this, to me, is it’s likely driven a wedge between two proud schools. I can’t foresee the Rams and Hawks meeting anywhere on purpose any time soon. The small-town public school going up against the private school from big suburbia I think helped both communities in ways that go beyond the gridiron.“I can’t take the chance of this happening again,” Bill said.So let’s rewrite the rulebook to make sure it doesn’t.</div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

THE COUNTY LINE: Hillsboro’s pleas are to no avail on suspended game

When the skies opened up over the Hillsboro football home game Sept. 20, Hawk fans had to be thinking, “Not again!”. For the third time in three games at Hillsboro since Aug. 30, it rained, and not just a few sprinkles. An ominous gray cloudbank started to form before the 7 p.m. kickoff against visiting North County, and a few minutes after the game started, fans were forced to seek shelter outside the stadium as the storm whipped through. After an hour’s delay, Mother Nature relented and the hosts came from behind to win 35-14.