Woodbridge-Beckman Pacific Coast League football game won’t be resumed; principals award forfeit win to Warriors

Elyjah Rush of Woodbridge picks up yards in Friday’s game vs. Beckman. (Fernando M. Donado, for OC Sports Zone).

The Woodbridge vs. Beckman Pacific Coast League football game, which was suspended Friday night with 2:37 left in the first quarter and the league-leading Warriors ahead 21-0, won’t be resumed and the Warriors will be awarded a forfeit victory.

The game, like many others in Orange County, was postponed by the referees because of heavy rain and lightning.

Saturday afternoon, Woodbridge principal Christopher Krebs said that league principals have awarded the win to Woodbridge.

“Beckman decided to forfeit rather than reschedule,” Krebs said in a text to OC Sports Zone. “Donnie Rafter (Beckman principal) and I consulted the other principals in the league last night prior to making this decision.”

With the decision, Woodbridge (5-3, 3-0) is one win away from a league title and Beckman is 4-4 and 1-2 in league, still in a position to earn a CIF playoff berth.

Beckman Athletic Director Steve Fischel said earlier today he would be calling the CIF office Monday for clarification on whether the game goes down as a victory for Woodbridge and indicated the Beckman administration was weighing the safety of the athletes, adding it was not possible to move Beckman’s scheduled Thursday home game.

Beckman administrators said Friday night they decided against resuming the game today for safety issues with another game coming up Thursday. Many Orange County games were rescheduled, but many of those did not begin before being postponed.

“We weighed the options between allowing  the kids to compete and finish the game and also just the physical and emotional mental preparation and toll from yesterday,” Fischel said.

He said officials tried to “figure out if it was right for them to have to do that today. We’ve got a short week next week. We play Thursday (vs. Northwood at Tustin). So we looked at all that as far as what was best for them physically and  mentally through this time period and just decided that overall, what’s the right thing for the kids is to not complete the game and get them ready for Thursday’s game.

“It’s not an easy decision to make because we were talking for a good hour, hour and a half last night but we feel like getting information from all parties, coaching staff, administration and athletic trainers  thought that was the best way to proceed. There is some concern as far as how this looks and how it goes down in the record books.  But that didn’t weigh into the decision. I don’t know if it’s a CIF decision or how it gets ruled upon.”

WOODBRIDGE-BECKMAN GAME STOPPED IN THE FIRST QUARTER

Beckman Coach Marcello Giuliano said Beckman’s administration made the decision to not resume the game.

“My job is to support the school and the administration in addition to my kids and my program,” he told OC Sports Zone. “My understanding is the game will not be resumed.”

Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson deferred comments on the matter to Beckman officials Friday night.

On Saturday, Gibson said:

“It’s a league decision, we will go to the league principals,” Gibson said.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com