On Saturday, the Fairfield Mules Football team traveled to Petersburg, Illinois for their 1st Round Playoff matchup versus the PORTA Bluejays. Unfortunately, the Mules fell to PORTA by a score of 9-8, after a finish that was marred by controversy. The majority of the game was a primarily defensive contest with both teams struggling to score and their quarterbacks trading interceptions. The defensive battle continued until PORTA was able to score with 5 minutes left in the first half. The Mules defensive dominance continued in the 2nd half, holding PORTA scoreless until the controversial ending. The Mules finally jumped on the scoreboard early in the 4th quarter after Michael Barner rattled off a 42-yard touchdown run. Barner also ran in the 2-point conversion to put the Mules up 8-6. Controversy ensued on the last series of the game as PORTA had possession with 22 seconds left and no timeouts. The Bluejays quarterback appeared to accidently kneel down instead of spiking the ball, which should have caused time to expire thus sealing the victory for the Mules. However, officials ruled that there was 1 second left on the clock, which allowed the Blue Jays one extra play, essentially a 5th down, which was used to kick the game-winning field goal. The Mules offense was once again led by Michael Barner, who had 21 rushes for 166 yards and 1 touchdown. With his performance Saturday, Barner moved into 2nd place for the Mules single-season rushing record. On defense, the Mules were led by Will Lewis, Nick Munoz, and Aiden King who each had 7 total tackles. Munoz and Lane Robson also each had an interception with King having 1 sack. The Fairfield Mules will finish their season with a record of 6-4.
On Sunday, Fairfield Community High School issued a press release addressing the controversial finish to Saturday’s game.
On Sunday evening, IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson released the following statement regarding the conclusion of the IHSA Class 3A Football First Round game between host PORTA High School Coop and visiting Fairfield High School:
“On the final drive of Saturday’s IHSA Class 3A Football First Round Playoff game between PORTA and Fairfield, it appears that an error was made by the officiating crew, which resulted in PORTA receiving an extra down.
On the perceived extra down, PORTA kicked a field goal to win the contest 9-8.
IHSA by-law 6.033 clearly states that ‘the decisions of game officials shall be final; protests against the decision of a game official shall not be reviewed by the Board of Directors.’
Given that by-law, neither the IHSA Executive Director, nor the IHSA Board of Directors have the ability to alter the outcome of a contest that has been determined on the field. The contest result shall remain final with PORTA Coop advancing to the Second Round of the IHSA Class 3A Football Playoffs.
On behalf of the IHSA, I express my sincerest apologies to Coach Townsend and his players and coaching staff, as well as to the entire Fairfield administration and community.
Coach Townsend and the school administration deserve recognition for the integrity and tact they have shown in the face of this difficult result. A core principle of education-based athletics are the life lessons that are learned through participation in high school sports. I recognize that these student-athletes have worked diligently with the goal of victory in mind for every game, especially in the postseason. I acknowledge that it is going to be difficult to find a silver lining in this particular situation, but I do hope they take pride in all they accomplished this season.
I recognize that there will be calls for the game result to be changed, or for PORTA to forfeit, but neither option is a possibility within the IHSA by-law structure. I believe it is important to understand why IHSA by-law 6.033 is in place to prevent such a situation. In this particular game, the call-in-question occurred on the final play of the game, and is spotlighted as a result. However, with the gift of hindsight, it could potentially be argued that myriad contests could or would have had different outcomes based on actual or perceived missed calls by game officials throughout the course of a contest.
What occurred on the field in the waning moments of the contest appears to be a simple case of human error, something that occurs in all levels of sport.
The crew assigned to officiate this contest by the IHSA understands that there will be an assessment and review of their performance and this situation as a result.
The IHSA will continue to be proactive in our efforts to educate our officials, while also working with our membership and Board of Directors to evaluate IHSA by-laws and policy related to officiating.”
Fairfield Community High School has not issued a response to the IHSA statement. Any further action by FCHS has not been determined at this time.
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