Madewell: Mercy rule could use some changes

A new rule by the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association has made for some short nights by football teams this fall, but has also posed its share of problems.

Both the Pioneer varsity and freshman squads found themselves on the up side of lopsided scores in recent games against White County. According to the TSSAA’s new mercy rule, if one team leads by 35 or more points in the second half, the game clock is not stopped for any reason other than a time-out.

As a result, last Friday’s second half against White County took just 30 minutes to play, and Monday’s freshman contest against the Warriors was completely finished just 1 1/2 hours after kickoff.

But despite the intentions of the rule, which was designed to keep teams from continuing to pile up points in blowout victories, Warren County head coach Chris Madewell sees a few problems with the continuous clock.

‘I understand what they were trying to do with (the rule), but it was very hard for us to get in all the subs we wanted to use,’ he said after Friday’s win. ‘When we get up like that, I want to get some second- and third-stringers in, but we struggled trying to find time to get everyone in, and didn’t get in everyone we would’ve liked.’

Madewell said he expects after a season under the new mercy rule, state officials will hopefully adjust the guidelines and decide there are some points in the game where the clock should be stopped.

‘I know at one time (Friday) five minutes ran off the clock, just getting the chains out and measuring for a first down,’ he said. ‘The rule has got its good points, but if they’d go back and look at it and at least stop the clock some, for penalties and measurements and things like that, I think it would be a lot better.’