Schedule Mix-Up at Patrick Henry Leaves Out-of-Towners Out in Cold

A scheduling mix-up at Patrick Henry High School has left El Modena High School of Orange County without a game on Oct. 10, said Bill Backstrom, El Modena Coach.

Patrick Henry is scheduled to play Grossmont on Friday, Oct. 9, instead of honoring a previously scheduled game the next day with El Modena.

Backstrom said he signed an agreement last season with Walt Baranski, who was then Patrick Henry’s coach, to play a two-game home-and-home series. Patrick Henry played at El Modena last season, losing 13-8.

Backstrom said no one from the school contacted him to either confirm or cancel the game.

However, Chris Miller, Patrick Henry’s new coach, said Baranski told him he tried numerous times to confirm the game, but that nobody from El Modena returned his calls.

“Now, this is all second-hand from Coach Baranski, but he assumed they weren’t coming and scheduled Grossmont,” Miller said.

Backstrom said he knew nothing about Baranski’s calls and only learned of the mix-up when his wife recently called Patrick Henry to get its schedule so that Backstrom could scout the team.

“His wife called about Aug. 29, right in the middle of two-a-days,” Miller said.

Backstrom’s wife was told that Patrick Henry wasn’t playing El Modena and had Grossmont scheduled that weekend.

It is too late for Backstrom to schedule another opponent to fill that date. It also is too late for Patrick Henry to back out of its game against Grossmont.