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| PHOTO BY CHRIS ADAMCZYK - THE NEWS & OBSERVER |
Northern Durham was the lone PAC-6 squad in action last evening in non-conference play as they took on the Apex Cougars from the Tri-9. The game went back and forth with the Knights taking an early lead, only to fall behind and have to mount a comeback late. After both teams missed PATs on their final scores of the game, the scoreboard read 20-20 at the newly refurbished Durham County Memorial Stadium and it looked like the fans were in for a treat on a brisk October evening, with overtime and more football. But that wasn't to be the case as this was truly a trick-or-treat night and no treats were to be found, instead of deciding the game on the field in overtime, the game was declared final at 20-20.
So what happened you ask? According to the rules of the NCHSAA, prior to any non-conference game, both head coaches are asked whether they would like to play overtime if the game is tied at the end of regulation. If one of the two coaches decides not to play overtime, then the game officially ends as a tie. The key is that both coaches have to agree to play the overtime session.
Tie Equivalent to Loss in Playoff Speak
Fast forward or perhaps rewind to last evening and with the game tied at the end of regulation, the decision was made to not proceed to overtime. According to an article in the Durham Herald Sun by Joe Johnson [Blocked PAT leaves Northern with a tie], the decision not to play overtime appears to have been made by the Apex coaching staff. A quote from the article stated the following: "The game ended in a tie because both coaches have to agree to play
overtime before the start of the game and Apex coach Bob Wolfe declined." From this information it appears that at the very least Apex decided not to play overtime. The inference is that if that had not been the case, overtime would have been played, which would indicate that the Northern staff had agreed to play overtime. From the story, it's unclear with 100% certainty that this was the case, but suffice it to say that at the very least one of the two staffs definitely elected not to play overtime.
