Sometimes, mercy rule doesn’t show enough mercy

North Schuylkill players burst onto the field prior to last Friday night's game against Notre Dame-Green Pond. Snapshots in time like this are part of what makes high school football great. (Photo by Skook News)

I’ve had a lot of time to think about high school football’s mercy rule this season.

As fate would have it, the three games I’ve covered so far finished with a combined score of 164-7.

Clearly, the current mercy rules aren’t always enough. Additional stipulations need to be added — to protect the safety of the players and uphold the ethical spirit of educational competition — when teams are so unevenly matched.

Right now, the “running clock’’ doesn’t begin until the second half when there’s a 35-point differential. The clock continues to tick on out-of-bounds plays, incomplete passes and other normal stoppages, save for scoring plays, timeouts and injuries.

As a disclaimer, I don’t pretend to have all of the answers. Still, I’ve seen thousands of games — and countless changes — since I began covering high school sports in 1988 and started following sports as a boy in the early 1970s.

I’d welcome fresh ideas, constructive comments and questions to create a better experience for all of the kids involved in high school sports. (You can reach us as always at t102sportsnow@pbcradio.com.)

First of all, I think the mercy rules in all sports are excellent concepts. At the heart of the matter, scholastic games are matchups between kids — and should be for the kids.

In football, the first change needs to be starting the running clock as soon as the margin grows to 35 points. First quarter, second quarter, second half … doesn’t matter. One score this season reached 38-0 after the first quarter. There’s no reason to prolong the agony for the team on the short end, and three quarters remained for coaches to get their second and third stringers plenty of varsity snaps.

The bigger the difference in size, speed and talent, the greater the chance of injury. That’s just common sense.

In fact, I’d like to see coaches rotate in their second-string guys in the first quarter of games like that to facilitate building depth. The emerging players can play alongside starters and gain valuable experience.

While I’m at it, I’d love to see high school football adopt more college and pro rules to shorten games in general. With the specter of CTE (brain injuries) and games stretching toward three hours more regularly, restarting the clock after the ball is placed on out-of-bounds plays during normal time is an easy fix. That one change would shave minutes off game times and bring them down closer to 2 hours.

Of course, you could keep normal stoppages during say the final four minutes of each half. Just a thought.

At the same time, schools that consistently struggle on the gridiron need to come up with creative solutions and hire knowledgeable, enthusiastic coaches to get their students to want to play football, to get them started in middle school and keep them in high school. It takes lots of time and effort, but it can be done.

And the rewards of playing competitive high school football — of being out there under Friday night lights — are memories these players can carry with them for the rest of their lives. The hard work to make it happen is worth it.

Other sports have made some drastic changes over the years to level the playing field.

A few examples:

*Wrestling changed the unlimited weight class to 275, now 285 pounds.

*Wrestling also added the technical fall, stopping a match when there’s a 15-point differential (for example, 16-1).

*Baseball and softball instituted the 10-run rule after the fifth inning. Later, the sports added a 15-run rule that kicks in after the third or fourth inning. Maybe football could consider a 60- or 70-point rule.

When a visiting softball team leads 18-1 after three innings, there’s little educational value in continuing.

Don’t you think?

Please let us know.

We’re all about the kids. Always have been, always will be.