Baldwin HS Football Team Pleads For Mercy From Opponents

BALDWIN, PA — — Misfortune has dogged the Baldwin High School football team for several years and now has reached the point that the school now is begging for mercy for its remaining opponents this season.

Baldwin athletic director Tony Cherico emailed a letter to the athletic directors of those teams requesting the games be played under a running clock, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Baldwin also asked its upcoming opponents to play their junior varsity players when facing them. Baldwin has lost its last two dozen games, is 0-5 this year and lost last week to Elizabeth Forward by a score of 57-0.

Pennsylvania high school football teams have an existing mercy rule in place. Under Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association regulations, upon completion of the first half or at any time in the second half, if a team gets a 35-point lead over its opponent the clock will stop only when an official calls time out, a charged time-out is granted, a period ends or a score occurs.

Once implemented, the mercy rule remains in effect even if the differential becomes less than 35
points.