Baldwin High School in Pittsburgh has lost 24 straight games and been outscored 277-32 through five games this season, prompting athletic director Tony Cherico to email the ADs of Baldwin’s final five opponents.
As reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cherico in his Tuesday email asked that the rest of Baldwin’s games be played under a running clock and other teams use JV players “early and often” against Baldwin.
“I know you are all aware of our struggles, so I am asking a favor or two,” Cherico wrote in the letter, according to the Post-Gazette.
"In essence, Baldwin is asking for mercy," wrote Mike White for the Post-Gazette, adding, "What Baldwin has done with this letter is practically unheard of in WPIAL sports, where a team formally asks others for leniency, especially in a larger classification. Baldwin is a Class 5A team and begins Allegheny Six Conference play Friday against South Fayette. Baldwin then plays Bethel Park, Moon, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair in the final four games."
As reported by White, the mercy rule in Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League football is a running clock when a team goes ahead by 35 points or more in the second half.
Per White, Cherico states in the letter that he talked to WPIAL chief operating officer Vince Sortino about using a running clock for the entire game, something Sortino denied Wednesday morning. “That is not true," Sortino said. "What I talked to him about was that, if there was agreement by both teams, they could shorten the quarters and play eight-minute quarters. But there was never a discussion about a running clock. That would be against the rules. You can’t run the clock [under the mercy rule] until the second half is reached and a team is ahead by 35 points.”
"Cherico then talked again with Sortino later Wednesday morning to clear up the running clock matter," White wrote, "and Cherico planned to resend the letter to ADs, asking to play shortened quarters."
“Our football team is not in a good spot," Cherico's letter opens. "We have around 30 kids, some not fully healthy, and we are surrounded with some parents that are causing issues. Our QB transferred last week, as well.”
Cherico explains that because some Baldwin players play offense, defense and special teams, “by the time the second half comes around, we are taking a beating. We only have five seniors, so we are extremely young, as well. So this request is obviously solely about safety for our kids making it through the next five games.”
“I am not sandbagging anyone for a win here,” Cherico wrote. “You will win with your JV getting significant time.”
Per White's reporting, Cherico ends the letter by saying, “btw, having to send this email makes me sick, but I have to look out for our kids.”
Coach Dana Brown, who is 1-24 at Baldwin, was against the letter at first, even as his team practiced with only two dozen players Monday.
“Tony and I talked about understanding the situation we’re in and what measures we can take,” Brown said. “This was one of the options. We’ve had parents reach out to us and ask for safety plans. Even last week, we had a couple kids who were asked by their parents to stay away from football until some safety measures were taken. We felt this was an idea for a safety plan that would make some parents more comfortable.”
In an opinion piece published Thursday in the Post-Gazette, Keith Barnes wrote, "Baldwin High School taught its football team a lesson on Wednesday — one that players can be saddled with for a long time. It told its student-athletes and the rest of the sports community that its players weren’t good enough to win."
"These are high school kids who gave their time in the summer showing up for optional offseason workouts. Who went through a week of heat acclimatization drills and two weeks of training camp. Who donned their helmets and put on pads in 90-degree heat to take the field and represent their community and their school," Barnes continued. "Now after all that work, when the season outlook appears grim as compared to the preseason when optimism reigned supreme, the adults in the room are begging for their players to be mollycoddled."
