Football: Belmont has to play running clock because of bus issue

Coronado and Belmont faced a dilemma on Friday night in their CIF Division VI-AA regional bowl game.

With two minutes left in the first quarter, the game was halted for close to 90 minutes because of lightning. Coronado had a 6-0 lead.

Belmont traveled on a charter bus from Los Angeles, and it was required to leave by 10:30 p.m. because of driver requirements (15-hour limit) to get back to Los Angeles. Officials consulted with the CIF. According to Belmont Coach Gregg Barden, the Sentinels would have to forfeit if they had to leave before the game was completed.

Barden said Coronado was gracious enough to decide to play the second, third and fourth quarters with a running clock at seven minutes each. Also the first quarter’s final two minutes were played with a running clock.

In the end, Coronado won, 14-0, but for the future, if there’s bus driver issues, maybe the CIF will let the teams start earlier than 7:30 p.m.

That’s pretty ridiculous that a bowl game has to have a running clock at seven minutes each.

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