A high school principal is apologizing for lack of sportsmanship after the football team won a game 106-0

By Lauren M. Johnson, CNN

A Los Angeles high school is apologizing after facing criticism that its football team didn’t simply defeat an opponent but rather trounced the opposing squad by a score of 106-0.

Inglewood High School Principal Debbie Tate issued the statement on Monday, saying that her school’s team did not conduct themselves “with sportsmanship or integrity and the final score was unacceptable.”

“Our administration and coaching staff believe that athletics should be a source of pride for our community. While Friday’s game did not reflect our best judgement as administrators, the Morningside High School and Inglewood High school football players, and their coaches have worked hard all season and deserve our respect,” Tate said.

Both schools are in the Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD), and school district officials said they are “saddened beyond words” in regard to the game’s score and will conduct an investigation.

“We will conduct a full investigation and take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that a similar outcome never happens again under an IUSD athletic program,” county administrator, Erika Torres, said in a statement.

“We value the hard work and commitment made by every student athlete and regret these actions have taken the focus away from the positive strides our programs have made at IUSD.”

Inglewood High School’s quarterback is UCLA-bound and passed for 13 touchdowns in the game. The team scored 56 points in the first quarter, and by halftime was up 83-0.

The most controversial move came when Inglewood’s head coach went for a two-point conversion when the team was already up 104-0, tying Hilo High School in Hawaii for the highest-scoring high school football game in the last five years.

“He used their star quarterback, so it was to be expected,” Morningside football player Dayvon Scruggs told CNN affiliate KABC. “We came in the game knowing that we were going to lose, but at the same time we still fought to the very end and didn’t quit and that’s what really matters.”

However, his coach Brian Collins, who is a first-time head coach, told the Los Angeles Times it was a “classless move,” but he was proud of his players for not quitting.

Fallout from the game blew up on social media where Dick Vitale agreed with Collins.

“How can the Coaching staff of INGLEWOOD HS California feel good about themselves?” the legendary sports announcer said on Twitter.

“SICKENING & a DISGRACE to the Title of COACH! Congrats on teaching good sportsmanship. U SHOULD BE FIRED!”

CNN has reached out to Mil’Von James, Inglewood’s head coach, for comment. In a letter Principal Tate posted to Twitter, she said James offered his apologies to Morningside and the school community at large.

Even though the game’s score was high, it doesn’t even touch the record set back in 1927. That is when Haven High School in Kansas defeated Sylvia High School by a score of 256-0.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.