Mismatch wasn’t necessarily mismanaged

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When is a 92-6 score not an example of bad sportsmanship?

When you:

• Catch a pass and run out of bounds.

• Fair catch kickoffs and punts.

• Knock down passes instead of intercepting them.

Those were among the things Capistrano Valley Christian did in its 92-6 victory over Liberty Christian, a game that immediately brought shouts of ‘running it up’ and a spirited discussion on the OC Register’s forum.

But those closest to Liberty Christian didn’t seem to have a problem with it.

‘There’s only certain things you can do when you can’t tackle or can’t catch them,’ said Bryan Speer, athletic director at Liberty Christian. ‘The referees asked us if we wanted a running clock and our coach (Deverick Lampley) said no because he wanted us to have an opportunity to score, which we did in the fourth quarter.’

For those who jump to conclusions, here are a couple of key elements: The winning team scored 27 points in the second half (two touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters), which is not outlandish; if it had scored 27 in the first half and 65 in the second, you’d have a better argument. CVC averaged 10 yards a carry and passed only three times. Liberty Christian averaged two yards a carry and completed only three of 15 passes. Every incomplete pass stops the clock, which allows more plays to take place.

Liberty Christian suited up only 13 players because two still hadn’t had enough practices to gain their eligibility.

‘They were very gracious,’ Speer said of Capo Valley Christian and its coach, Chris Fore. ‘They didn’t have many guys either. They were not running it up.’

This is the Minutemen’s second year of 11-man competition. A handful of seniors who were supposed to return this season instead chose not to play, whereas CVC had most of its players back. Will Liberty Christian play 11-man next year?

‘We’ll have to make an evaluation after this year of what we’re going to do,’ Speer said. ‘We have seven seniors on our roster, and I don’t know what our incoming freshmen are going to look like.’

- Martin Henderson