Traditionally high school football gets the lion’s share of fall sports coverage, but that’s likely to change soon, given the game’s dwindling participation numbers at the youth level and rapid growth in other sports.

Perhaps trying to forestall the inevitable shift in emphasis, the Maine Principals’ Association (which one assumes counts a significant number of former football players and coaches amongst its members) has arranged for a post-season tournament which includes 77 percent of the state’s 73 high school football teams that compete in Classes A, B, C, and D. One Class A team managed just one win in eight games, yet they’ll be in the playoffs, at least briefly.

That interscholastic sports are impactful is rarely in dispute, but just howimportant they are is a matter of opinion. Athletics are, like other extracurricular activities, a potentially valuable component of a well-balanced educational experience.

Ideally participation in high school sports should result in some positive (or at the very least non-negative) outcome or outcomes. Unfortunately problems arise on occasion when some people (nearly all of them nominal “adults”) lose sight of the big picture.

Full disclosure: I was an assistant high school coach for two state championship soccer teams, but also helped coach a high school basketball team to a winless season. Fortunately both of those experiences yielded at least some value for the players, their families, and the coaches.

A soccer team I coached once demolished an undermanned opponent 11-0 despite my making every possible effort to keep the score down. I felt far worse after that than I did following an opposing basketball coach’s re-inserting his starters and applying a full-court press in the fourth quarter when his team was already leading ours by nearly 60 points. There’s nothing good (in any sport) about a strong team crushing an inferior one; doing so does a disservice to all involved.

The state high school soccer and field hockey tournaments are already in progress, and given that the rules are the same as football’s (one loss and you’re out), those games are every bit as intense as the ones being contested Friday nights on the gridiron.

Currently Yarmouth is unquestionably Maine’s soccer capital. This fall only three of Maine’s 259 high school varsity soccer teams went through their 14-game season unbeaten and untied, and two of them were the Yarmouth boys and the Yarmouth girls. (The other: the Temple Academy boys, who despite their unblemished record are, due to a soft schedule, seeded below two other teams in Class D South.)

The three-time defending Class B state champion Yarmouth boys scored 69 goals this season while allowing only eight. It’s worth noting, though, that the Clippers didn’t reach double-digits in any of their 14 wins this season. That’s probably not coincidence. A good coach will do all he or she can to avoid embarrassing an opponent. This is partly out of common decency, but also because smart coaches know that in sports as in life, what goes around often comes around.

While only a trio of soccer teams had perfect records, three times as many lost every game they played this fall. Boys teams that went 0-14 were Class A Skowhegan, Class B Nokomis, Class C Penquis Valley and Dirigo, and Class D Machias Memorial. Maine Girls Academy (Class A), Fryeburg Academy and Washington Academy (Class B), and Valley (Class D) were the winless, draw-less girls teams.

Washington Academy’s season was probably the most discouraging; they were outscored 137 goals to three. Twice an opponent trounced them 16-0; they also absorbed two 15-0 losses, took one 12-0 thumping, and twice got hammered 10-1.  Although no one understands a team’s needs better than its coach, it’s difficult to fathom why someone would allow his or her soccer team to humiliate an opponent by running up the score, particularly against one that’s already absorbed multiple double-digit drubbings.

In field hockey there were a pair of 14-0 teams this fall: Class B Winslow and Class C St. Dominic Academy. The similarities stop there, though. Winslow scored 59 goals while allowing only seven. They reached eight goals in a game three times, but in their other eleven victories never scored more than five.

In contrast St. Dominic’s outscored their opponents 130-5. They’ve thrashed opponents 14-0, 13-0, and 12-0. Three times they’ve slaughtered less-skilled teams 11-0, and they’ve also got four 9-0 wins to their “credit.” They’re undoubtedly very good, but perhaps these “Saints” could learn a little more about the quality of mercy.

Here’s hoping the 2017 fall high school playoffs are both exciting and injury-free. May the best team(s) win!

Except for St. Dominic’s field hockey.