Calhoun Middle vs. Webster…. the good, the bad and the foul mouthed

On Thursday, October 6^th, our Calhoun Middle School Red Devils Football team hosted 8^th grade night honoring our 11 eighth graders at their final home game of the season. Eighth Graders honored were Rome Riddel, Reese Schoolcraft, Garrett Carpenter, Chase Schoolcraft, Kristian Fredrick, Brennen Carpenter, Eli Bailey, Charter Cottrell, and Orion Swearengen along with 8^th grade cheerleaders Addison Laughlin and Kamry Richards. 

Unfortunately the celebration of these young athletes dedication was once again overshadowed by WVSSAC’s “finest” officials, foul language both on the field and in the stands, and as always unsportsmanlike conduct. But wouldn’t ya know it….. it wasn’t on Calhoun’s side. Webster County parents early in the first quarter could be heard all the way across the field screaming and yelling at the kids, the officials and even throwing the “F” bomb out. But Calhoun’s fan are “hostile”? And to make matters worse, after the game, it was said that Webster County players’ mouths were just a filthy. Calhoun boys had several ‘F’s thrown at them in various sentences and more often than not said within hearing distance of the officials. 

The high point of the night wasn’t the touchdowns scored, the big runs achieved, or the tackles made. No, the high point of the night happened after the buzzer sounded, the clock shut off and both teams huddled on the field as they often do. While the teams took to their perspective huddles, a single athlete from Webster County sat off to the side in a child’s pose position, looking very distraught. Calhoun’s #25 Chase Schoolcraft, took it upon himself to see that this child was ok, while his own team and coaches showed not a single ounce of concern. He even went the extra step and walked him back to his team’s huddle, patting him on the back in a display of spectacular sportsmanship after a game that could’ve been better. Schoolcraft didn’t learn that at school, he didn’t learn that from an NFHS or WVSSAC handbook. He learned that from strong parenting, years of sports, and from the encouragement of coaches along the way. At almost every sporting event Calhoun participates in you’ll see numerous acts of kindness displayed from athletes of all sports, ages and backgrounds. So why do these officials always seem to have an axe to grind with Calhoun Athletics?

Over the past few years, Calhoun has unfortunately been labeled as a “hostile” environment, due to parents and fans yelling from the stands about actions or calls they’ve seen on the field/court. 

But why are they yelling? What is causing these parents, who paid their hard earned money to attend these games to get so upset they’d risk being asked to leave? That’s easy…. WVSSAC Officials. No one from this area will tell you that our parents and fans are perfect. We won’t even defend some of the things that they say, and have been known to call our own people out for the garbage. So lets’ talk about what we WILL defend. Calhoun is a very proud group of people. Our athletes are often seen as less than because our school doesn’t have a fancy track, a turf field or cheerleaders that can tumble from one end zone to the other. We often have just enough athletes to fill the team, with occasionally a few to spare. What we do have within those small teams are seriously talented athletes, who have more heart, grit and determination than a lot of these larger, more successful teams have within their stacked rosters. Our student athletes are taught from an early age that we may be small, but we are definitely mighty. They’re given tools to push through the struggles and never give up. I could go on for days about how amazing it is to see these young kids, leaving it all on the field/court, game in and game out, but I wont. 

So if these kids are such amazing humans, why are there parents often belligerent? Again, simple. Yes our schools have insurance to help pay for injuries incurred while at sporting events/functions, but that insurance is minimal and often doesn’t help if the bill doesn’t reach a certain dollar amount. So the cost is shoved on to the parents. The parents of kids who because of horrible calls are being put at even greater risk of injury. Starting to see why parents get upset? But the bad part is, generally it takes 3, 4, or 5 bad calls before things start to get rowdy. 

At our last Friday night game when our high school boys hosted Paden City, most you of you know, an altercation broke out between the two teams on the field. What you don’t know, and the WVSSAC won’t tell you is that it took 3 quarters of dirty hits, foul language and very few calls made for it to reach that point. No, they painted our team as future criminals to suit their narrative. And I understand the SSAC struggles to find officials willing to travel to these games, and even harder to find them to travel to OUR home games, which middle school has found out more than once this year. 

So my question to the WVSSAC is what do you have against a small school, from the middle of WV, with just barely enough students to classify as a single A school? Why would you send us officials, often from the same place as the team we are playing? And when questioned by Ridgeview News your response was basically, “No comment.”? Parents if your child participates in any school extra curricular activity, please reach out to the WVSSAC and ask them why? Why is Calhoun always given the last pick of the litter? Why does it seem like these officials are often more favoring of our opponents? And why when questioned about their decisions they clam up tighter than a toddler who found a 6 month old chicken nugget in the seat of the car? Every hosting school pays these officials with YOUR hard earned money. And they are hired with the goal of officiating a game/event without bias, to protect our children and allow them to demonstrate their skills in a high energy, often emotionally charged physical activity. If we don’t do our job, we don’t get paid… so why do they?

Ridgeview News knows this article was less about the game of the night and more about how poorly Calhoun is treated by the WVSSAC and the officials that they hire. We sincerely apologize to anyone who takes this as a slight towards our boys and their achievements. That is not the intention. Nor is that how this publication wants to be seen. We are proud Calhoun Athletic supporters, but even bigger supporters of our athletes and their safety, and the fact that they’ve earned a fair shake in these activities but are never given one. Congratulations 8^th graders on your 8th grade Night and we look forward to seeing and covering your accomplishments in future activities. This game may not ave went how you wanted it to, but you never gave up and you never gave in to participating in your opponents shenanigans. Not all W’s are shown on the scoreboard. 

Ridgeview News would also like to name Chase Schoolcraft as RN’s Player of the game. Your act of kindness after a hard gamespoke volumes to all in the stands of what Calhoun Athletics is truly about. Well done!