Ripon Christian has learned its lesson. Next fall, let football team play post season

With the fortunes of its talented football team hanging in the balance, Ripon Christian High School took a big gamble and lost.

Last winter, Sac-Joaquin Section officials with the California Interscholastic Federation warned the Knights not to cast aside state COVID-19 protocols aimed at keeping student athletes safe. This Modesto Bee Editorial Board urged the school to take the section seriously and resist the temptation to play a few unsanctioned games with a club flouting the rules and calling itself the California Association of Private Sports.

“The downsides of participating in a sneaky club ignoring state health regulations easily could outweigh perceived benefits,” the Feb. 12 editorial warned.

Ripon Christian, anxious to get its players some real action after a coronavirus-idled fall without any, threw caution to the wind and played five games in February and March under the banner of Knights Outdoor Fitness and Skillz Academy. Section officials investigated, found that the school team essentially masqueraded as a private club, and handed down a harsh penalty: Probation for three years and no post-season play for two.

Meanwhile, in finally sanctioned play, the Knights lived up to expectations on the gridiron with a 7-2 record this fall that would position the team well for a strong post-season run under normal circumstances. The school sued to keep playing, and things were looking up for the Knights when a court initially gave Ripon Christian the benefit of the doubt.

But that temporary restraining order did not stand, and Judge Erin Guy Castillo three weeks ago sided with the section.

Despite ample warning, Ripon Christian “chose to engage anyway by leasing its facilities and equipment, and allowing its coaches and students to participate on its campus,” Castillo said in her ruling, agreeing with the section that the school “and the club team were effectively one and the same.”

The result: Instead of Friday being Ripon Christian’s biggest football game of the season — the Division VII championship (assuming playoff wins the past couple of weeks) — Friday will be just the day after Thanksgiving.

It’s understandable if your reaction is something like, “Well, they brought it on themselves. They knew the risk, they rolled the dice, they lost, and now they need to lie in the bed they made.”

Yes, adults played this poorly. But it’s time now to consider the kids.

This penalty would be more fair

Ripon Christian adults: Let’s admit error and stand down.

Section officials: You won. You were right to uphold public health directives. You had the resolve to enforce the rules, even when law enforcement refused to elsewhere in our community, leaving the coronavirus to wreak deadly destruction and claim thousands of our neighbors and loved ones. You even won in court, and Ripon Christian football players became nonplayers this post season.

Isn’t that enough?

Missing one post season can forever alter the trajectory of a student’s athletic career. These teenagers are paying a heavy price — not for their own fault, but that of unwise parents and coaches. The price the kids pay this week seems sufficient.

Keep intact the rest of the punishment as rightly decreed, section officials. Keep Ripon Christian on probation. They deserve it.

But the kids don’t deserve to lose two years of post-season participation. Commute the sentence. Next year, let them play.

Hopefully, these football players have learned valuable lessons about the downside of defying authority, and accountability. Now it’s time to teach them, by your example, about forgiveness.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.