The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

COMMENTARY

In 1990, Middies defeated Moeller - can they do it again?

Top Middies playmaker thrilled to reach playoffs

OSU kicker thrust into rose-hued spotlight
3:00 a.m.
OSU looking to extend winning streak over UM
11/21/09
Ohio State-Michigan series has slipped in stature
11/21/09
Coles dismayed as RedHawks lose again
11/21/09
Miami hockey blanks Western Michigan 3-0
11/21/09
> More sports headlines

By Rick McCrabb, Staff Writer 12:42 AM Saturday, November 7, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — The smallest of fractions — .0555 — had the largest and lasting impact on the Middletown High School football team.

Back in 1990, the Middies seemed poised to qualify for the Division I state playoffs, but they were shocked by St. Xavier 14-7 in the final regular season game.

The Middies, it seemed, would finish the season 8-2 overall, 7-1 in the Greater Miami Conference.

But when the computer rankings were released, the Middies finished in the fourth, and final playoff position, by .0555 points.

The Middies faced Moeller — sound familiar? — in the first round of the playoffs, and, paced by Darrell Montaie’s two touchdowns, defeated the Crusaders, 21-7 on Nov. 3, 1990.

That’s when things got interesting, and the Middie history books were rewritten. Two days later, someone leaked to a Cincinnati newspaper that Middletown used an ineligible player late in the 56-0 victory over Kettering Fairmont.

When the mistake was discovered, Buddy Moore, then MHS athletic director, called the Fairmont AD, who told Moore that since the player had no impact on the outcome of the game, there was no need to notify the Ohio High School Athletic Association in Columbus.

Later, Jim Place, then MHS head coach, admitted not calling the OHSAA was a mistake.

But the damage was done.

For two nights on WLW-700, host Bill Cunningham and listeners blasted the Middies for using an eligible player and for refusing to forfeit the first-round win over Moeller.

Clair Muscaro, then commissioner of the OHSAA, called the Middies’ decision “extra-ordinarially disappointing,” but since one playoff game had been played, the Middies couldn’t be penalized according to the bylaws.

Jim Lippincotti, then Moeller head coach, said it was a “matter of what is right and what is wrong.”

Harry Eastridge, then principal at MHS, said the team “earned the right to be where they are.”

Regardless, following two nights of negative publicity, Place, citing the “black cloud over the team, the city and the school,” stepped down as coach, and named five-year assistant Bob Thompson interim coach.

Place said: “It’s time for the guilty to be penalized and the not guilty to be let go.”

The Middies, playing uninspired football, were crushed by Princeton 35-13 in the second round game. After the game, Thompson admitted the controversial week “finally took its toll on the players.”

Then he added: “It’s been a tough week.”

It’s been an even tougher 19 years for the football team. In the last 18 seasons, the Middies were 79-81, and had eight non-losing seasons. The Middies were 9-1 in 1991, but because of the ineligible player, they were suspended from the playoffs.

Consider some of the ramifications from the 1990 season:

• Place left MHS, was named head coach at Dayton Chaminade-Julienne where he led the Eagles to a state championship. He now coaches at Hamilton High School.

• Since Place’s departure, MHS has had six head coaches. Joe Tresey, Chip Otten, Eric Tudor, Dick Martin, Ron Johnson, and Jason Krause may never have been head coaches, at least not in Middletown.

• If not for the fallout from the 1990 season, Krause, the Middies’ second-year coach, probably would still be coaching at Monroe High School.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.

Key figures in ’90 controversy

The key players in the 1990 Middletown High School controversy:

Jim Place: Stepped down for one game as the Middletown High School football coach before the second-round game against Princeton.

Buddy Moore: The MHS athletic director, who, instead of notifying the Ohio High School Athletic Association about the school’s ineligible player, called officials at Kettering Fairmont.

Clair Muscaro: Commissioner of the Ohio High School Athletic Association who ruled the Middies could play Princeton in the second round.

Bob Thompson: Named as MHS interim football coach after Place’s self-imposed one-game suspension.

Harry Eastridge: School superintendent who said the Middies reported the ineligible player in an “honorably and timely fashion.”

Share this article

ADD COMMENT

Comments feed

Who cares about 1990, that is the past... We just whooped Moeller 45-3 ---- No controversy this time.. Go Middies!

Gomiddies
9:34 PM, 11/7/2009

REPORT ABUSE

HELL YEAH THEY CAN!!!!! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MIDDIES!

MIDDIE MOM
8:46 PM, 11/7/2009

REPORT ABUSE

This article has about 93 errors in it? First it says they were mad that he was ineligible, then mad b/c he was eligible. Said Eastridge was principal, he wasn't, but then said he was superintendent. I don't remember it being so dramatic. Nor do I remember Place being so heroic. I'm not the least bit surprised he and Buddy Moore tried to cover it up. But regardless, it's stupid high school football. It's not like anyone lost money or was hurt because of an ineligible player.

Phil Mawang Class of 90
5:46 PM, 11/7/2009

REPORT ABUSE

We welcome your comments. Please remember this is a public forum and behave appropriately. Your comments must conform to our visitor's agreement.