By a vote of 14-5, SCC football coaches have elected to join the rest of the state and add overtime to its league football games.
The only hurdle left is a ratifying vote by the league’s athletic directors at their monthly meeting Wednesday morning. That, says SCC commish Al Carbone, merely should be a formality. “I’m very confident it will pass,” Carbone said Friday.
The SCC had three ties last season and 29 during its previous 14 years (it is celebrating its 15th year, hence the new league logos). The SCC and the Nutmeg League were the only two Connecticut leagues, and just a handful across the Northeast, not to use some form of overtime rules.
For leagues who decide to adopt overtime, the CIAC mandates the use of the same Kansas Overtime system used in the state playoffs. Teams alternate possessions, then alternate the order of possession for every overtime; they get four downs to score from the 10-yard line in every overtime; they must go for two if the game goes to a third overtime.
“I think it is very good thing for our league because every football game should have a winner” Carbone said. “It will add a lot more excitement and it aligns us with everyone else in this state. The excitement of overtime is pretty good experience for our kids and coaches, too.”
The CIAC has always made overtime optional for its leagues. But last season, the state’s football committee voted to reduce the amount of playoff points awarded for a tie in an attempt to force the issue.
When that happened, Carbone said, the league’s football coaches discussed changing the rule but ultimately, they decided not to put it to vote until they could monitor how the new point system would affect their schools’ playoff prospects.
“People were swinging back because of the change in playoff points,” Carbone said. “It got to the point where you saw the enormous change in votes.”
Never understood games being played to a tie.
Overtime just makes for better games.