SPORTSBEAT by Peter Jakey:Coach Budnick talks about De Tour forfeit
School officials in De Tour could have made a decision sooner on the fate of Friday’s game against Posen, which will be forfeited to the Vikings, but it probably would have had the same results. Posen, more than likely, would have ended up with another notch in the win column against a De Tour football program that has been on the skids since the turn of the century.
The scores have been ugly the last few years. You could have mailed me the score on a postcard. Posen 50, De Tour 8 or how about 70-0. I wasn’t even going to go this year. The last time a game was close between Posen and De Tour was in 1999. The Vikes defeated the Raiders 14-12. It was the last year De Tour qualified for the playoffs. They were 7-2. It was the first time Posen made the playoffs in more than two decades. One program was on its way up, while another was headed down and may never return, as it appears De Tour will join Cedarville in a co-operative program next year. Another opponent probably will help Posen in the long run, but an opponent in live conditions would have been better this week for coach Glenn Budnick and company. He talked about the situation the last week or two, with the dark cloud of the De Tour game hovering overhead.
Q. What did school officials in De Tour have to say about waiting until this week to call the game, when they knew there were only seven to nine players out for the first practice?
Budnick: They were sorry they waited so long to make the decision and held us up, but they have to do what’s in the best interest as far as safety for their kids. They only had 11 players out. (It was 15 last Friday when it was decided to cancel the Posen game but continue the season).
Q. Will this affect your playoff points in the drive toward a sixth straight playoff appearance?
Budnick: They would have to win games during the regular season in order to get some bonus points, so we are getting the same points as if we had stepped on the field and played them. If they do pick up wins during the season, we’ll still get those bonus points, if they are able to play games and actually win them.
Q. How does this effect your team?
Budnick: Nothing replaces game experience, that grass time. Where it hurts us is that it’s one less game of experience that our players can get before we get into the conference schedule.
Q. There was the possibility of playing the Au Gres JV, which would have given some younger players a chance to bang pads, but due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, that didn’t work out either.
Budnick: Au Gres had a girl who had been suffering from brain cancer for the last few years, who died over the weekend. They are having the funeral for her Thursday (today), so they canceled all o
Q. Without De Tour in week two next year, what are you going to do?
Budnick: I’ll ask my athletic director Mr. Kelly to pursue other options. If somebody else has a game available for the second week, we’ll be more than happy to pick them up in place of De Tour next year.
Q. So a night off Friday and a chance for you to relax and watch the football scores on television like the rest of us, right? I know better. You’ll be off scouting somebody, somewhere.
Budnick: I’m going to get a good scouting report from Pickford, because I’m going up to watch them play against Hillman. We’ll come back next Monday and work on the specific things we need to, to get ready for Pickford.