The Friday night lights burned bright during a matchup between two Texas high schools. But a 91-0 victory left one parent as quite the sore loser.
According to Dallas’ CBS affiliate, the parent of a Fort Worth Western Hills football player didn’t see the blowout as just a loss. Instead, the parent filed a complaint against the entire coaching staff of Aledo High School, citing bullying.
“My son plays for Western Hills football team [sic] on Friday night we witnessed bullying firsthand, it is not a pretty site,” the complaint, obtained by CBS 11, states. “Picking up my son from the field house after the game and taking him home was tough, I did not know what to say on the ride home to explain the behavior of the Aledo coach for not easing up when the game was in hand.”
Though the final score of the game ended up being 91-0, Aledo coach Tim Buchanan said he began trying to keep the store down at halftime, when the team was up 56 points. The coach began subbing his backup players for starters and letting the clock run continuously. Additionally, Buchanan instructed his players to make fair-catch calls in an effort to ease the pain.
“You don’t want to embarrass … I’ve been on the other side of those scores,” he told CBS 11. “…That doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t make the kids feel good.”
But Buchanan, who has led the Bearcats to an undefeated season thus far, said he would never teach his players to not play their hardest, as the complaint suggests should have done.
“I would never ask our kids not to play hard,” he said. “I would never tell them, ‘Go out and let them score.’ That’s not what you want to teach kids.'”
Aledo Superintendent Derek Citty said the district is handling the complaint as it would any other and will conduct an investigation to make sure “there’s no legitimacy to it,” he said. But, he believes the coaches acted appropriately.
“There was nothing unfair about it other than the fact that our players were better than their players,” Buchanan said.
And it could be just that, as officials with the Aledo Independent School District hope the school’s team will be placed in a more difficult district next year, giving them tougher competition. Western Hills’ team, to the contrary, has yet to win a game yet this season.
