"Cheaters Never Win"

[TXMike]

Pretty easy to see one receiver leave the field although I can't see where the replacement ran on (but he is there at the end of the play somehow)

Link to video: http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1297294534


From the Savannah Morning News:
Cheaters never win

Friday, November 9, 2007

Football coach who tried to cheat his way to a win deserves to lose his job.

IT'S NO wonder that Lakeside-Evans High School lost seven football games and won only three this year.

Even when they cheat, they're terrible at it.

Such was the case in Effingham County last Friday night.

That's when the team from Columbia County, near Augusta, embarrassed and belittled itself by attempting an illegal play in the waning seconds in a tight game against Effingham County High.

The Lakeside-Evans quarterback tossed a Hail Mary pass to a teammate who slipped onto the field from the sidelines near the end zone.

Fittingly, an Effingham defensive back picked it off.

Then the home team ran out the clock to preserve a hard-fought 7-0 victory and stay alive in the state playoff hunt.

For some inexplicable reason, the referees missed it.

Only after Effingham's coaches reviewed the game films this week did both schools find out that the visiting team tried to steal a touchdown.

Still, even if the subterfuge worked last Friday, what was Lakeside-Evans High Coach Jody Grooms thinking? That the refs wouldn't catch it? (He was right.)

That no one was filming the game, so he would get away with it?

(Wrong.)

That it's OK to teach young people how to cheat, because life is tough and rules are for suckers?

Time out for a reality check.

Yes, the sports pages frequently chronicle cheaters, dopers and others looking for an illegal edge.

So does the rest of the newspaper. And sadly, it's creeping into the nation's high schools.

The non-profit Josephson Institute, headed by Michael Josephson, who founded the national "Character Counts!" program, surveyed 5,275 high school athletes in 2005 and 2006.

Sadly, the results showed that coaches are teaching them how to bend, if not break, the rules to win.

Columbia County School Superintendent Charles Nagel said he talked with the principal at Lakeside-Evans about the coach.

Good.

Let's hope the principal delivers a pink slip. The last thing a losing program needs is a loser coach who cheats.

[JugglingReferee]

Nice story.

CANADIAN RULING:

Illegal.

Wow, that happens in Nebraska or Iowa, I would bet that the coach wouldn't even have time to pack his stuff from his office!

[Jim D]

Real class!

I heard of a story like this that wasn't discovered until after the season when one team was reviewing it's films. It seems like the opponent had been doing it all year.

On a kick off, the team would wait until the ball was kicked and had gone downfield. As everyone moved downfield, they would slip two extra players into the game. Since the official's attention was toward the ball and the return, they never got caught. The also never had a kick off returned very far.

[Ed Hickland]

Incredible!

Hope the coach is assigned to coaching the 5 and 6 year olds next year.

[waltjp]

Originally Posted by Ed Hickland

Incredible!

Hope the coach is assigned to coaching the 5 and 6 year olds next year.

Why? So he can train them early? This coach has forfeited his right to be anywhere near a football team.

Is it possible that nobody else associated with the team spoke out about this. No players? Coaches? Parents?

[wisref2]

Strangely enough - this happened to me when I played (a really long time ago) and I've never forgotten it. The team was killing us 50-something to nothing and they ran this play for a touchdown on my side (I was the safety). I knew what he had done and had some words with the coach. Almost impossible to catch this as an official - but I sometimes glance at the sideline as the WH to see if any offensive players are standing with their helmets on near the end of the team box - I just note their number in my mind. Funny how something like that sticks with you for 30+ years! Hmm, maybe I should just get over it.