Great Performances But When Is Enough, Enough?

I witnessed a spectacular individual performance by a high school athlete on Wednesday — and, yes, in the many years of being in this wonderful job it is tough to recall something to compare. I am sure there are other marvellous moments.

Ryan Dixon. He's the Grade 10 running back at Whitby's Donald Wilson high school. On Wednesday, he capped a superb year helping his team go undefeated in 12 games and win the Ontario Regional Junior high school football title, a first for the school.

So, what did he do?

Well, start with all six touchdowns for his team. Yes, in one game. Then add up the yardage he gained. By the time the game clocked showed zeros, he had more than four lengths of the football field. The 15-year old carried the ball 44 times for 471 yards in a 40-28 win over St. Michael's — and played on the artificial turf at the Toronto all-boys' private school.

Some people will look at this as a major accomplishment and also throw in kudos to the offensive linemen. And, there are some other people who will scratch their heads and wonder why the coaching staff kept the kid in the entire game — except for one play when he was either injured or tired and left? He was back in the next play to score a touchdown. And for those who like specifics, he was only dropped for a loss once.

Not for me to debate here, one way or another. Many people know I can go either way — with limits. I will say the game was a thriller, back and forth scoring, a championship on the line and St. Mike's won the title last year.

Even watching was Akeel Lynch, the Grade 10 running back from St. Mike's who piled up some similar numbers last year. He would have been eligible for this game but St. Mike's, for whatever reason, promoted him to the senior squad this past year.

Thinking about performances like Dixon and Lynch also has my brain cells recalling some other individual highlights, like Adriana Leon scoring five goals for Country Day school in a soccer game earlier this year. She's a Team Ontario player too.

Going back, there was Joey Votto, the major league baseball player now with Cincinnati, who was powerful at the plate for Toronto's Richview Collegiate. Cheri Piper, who went on to join the National women's hockey team and has some Olympic medals, she scored 11 goals in a game for Toronto's Albert Campbell Collegiate. Lindsay Wilson won four individual league championship races in one season while at Mary Ward High in Toronto. Former West Hill basketball star Denham Brown, who didn't quite make it to the NBA, some claim scored 111 points in a 32-minute senior game. Keeping score were students and I never did see that official scoresheet. And the list goes on and on.

Couple of things surface. We have some great athletes who, in many cases, started in the high school system (maybe club at the same time too) and received excellent coaching to go along with their individual talents.

Also, since this is the amateur level and sportsmanship is always mentioned, should coaches be pulling their best athletes from a game when they have reached a certain level of scoring?

Comments

[Jones]

Great performance indeed and you raise a very good point that many coaches abuse.
In this case, with a close game, I would assume that the player was kept in the game for ball control and just kept pounding away.
Overall, coaches do need to pull athletes when they are only in for self gratification.

[Mike]

Like to see what this kid is like when he gets to grade 12 and goes up against real players.

[Method Man]

I would get the point of the "when is enough, enough" if this were a 70-0 smackfest, but....a 12 point game and this kid must have been the story for Wilson, and without him they evidently would not have beat St. Mike's. Not the player's fault that he carried his team!

So let's flip this over - what team in a competitive setting does less than its best? to do otherwise is a cheat on your opponent and a cheat on yourself. Unless the Wilson coach with no consideration for the player ran him into the ground, compromised his health or otherwise put themselves before the team...isn't competition about putting your best foot forward (and this kid put his forward about 400 times). David, I usually see your side on HS issues, but not here.

[Joel]

Well, I agree that sportsmanship needs to be honoured in these cases and pull the athlete out. But I also feel like if an athlete is on the verge of breaking a school or regional record, they should let him break it then take him out.

[Memphis]

In both of Huron Heights' 77-0 victory's this season RB Connor Anderson didn't step onto the field in the 2nd half. In fact Anderson who rushed for more than 1000 yards in 9 games only saw the 3rd quarter 5 times and the 4th quarter 3 times. Adding up the numbers Anderson only played a combined 4 games this season, LOL! Imagine the numbers if the coaches at Huron kept handing him the ball for 4 quarters this year. Would 3000 yards have been possible?

[dk]

I just think it's great that you and the Star keep highlighting school sports and these students who may never get this attention again.
Coaches who don't take advantage of these opportunities are fools.

[Mr. H.]

Some of you readers sound like you'd buy swamp land.
Whether you agree with Grossman or not, and I think he's a fair guy and dedicated to what he does, I am sure he writes these blogs to generate interest and not because he believes in things. Smart guy, he's creating lots of discussion. Where the hell are the other media in Toronto who only show up for high schools when there is a championship.

[Mr. H.]

This guy is only in grade 10. Wait until he grows up and then we'll see what he can do. You folks are getting too excited over this one guy. Overall, many coaches are guilty of leaving their best in a game and not just in those blow out games. Nothing wrong with a desire to win, that's what sports is all about but we all know when we have let things go too far - and yes I am one of them.

[Big John]

That individual talking about Huron Heights sounds like he might be one of the coaches.
If he is not, I apologize.
If he is, he should know better than to run up these scores. There are many of us who can hardly wait for the time when some team will give him a taste of his own medicine.

[BB]

I can see this kid being used until the end of the game because it was close and he was so dominant. But, I agree that many times coaches go a bit overboard allowing players to pad their personal achievements.

[BB]

Wonder if St. Mike's can come up with some special bursary or financial package to get Dixon to switch schools and line up beside Lynch. Things have a funny way of happening.

[DK]

Does anyone know if this is a high school record. If not, why don't they keep records like this or is there a sob story about this not being appropriate.

[Al]

Enough is enough if what I read in the Star today to be true. Why do volunteers, as in high school teachers, get free tickets year after year to the NFL game. If that was the case, why is there no announcements asking for volunteers. I would instead of the same clique get the freebies under a disguise. This is crappy. Where are you OFSAA and time to be accountable.

[True Sport]

A 12 point lead is hardly called a "blowout". It takes a full team effort plus good coaching to be successful in any team sport. In the case of this particular game, both of these conditions were fully executed successfully by the Donald Wilson Gators. It seems that you missed the play late in the game when Wilson were in scoring position and opted to drop to their knee out of respect for their opponents instead of running up the score any further. This is true sportsmanship. For any star running back to excel they must have a great offensive line to open up the holes for them to execute their running abilities, and this was a very well done all round effort by the Gators players. I realize that St Michaels just were not supposed to lose according to you and their supporters, but let's face it and report the facts correctly as they happened , they were not the better team on the field, they were beaten fairly and squarely where it counts.

[Memphis]

Hey Big John,

If your waiting for Huron to get a taste of their own medicine, keep waiting:)

[RB]

Coaches know very well when they should pull players and if they claim otherwise they're fools. In the case of the Wilson kid, I can see leaving him in because of the close game. But I have been in many games, and different sports, when coaches keep jamming it down the throat of teams. Poor coaching. You once wrote a story about mandatory certification for coaches, right on.