Shady Springs and Independence no longer playing each other in any sport

[Wvumav 20]

At least for the time being 

by Tina Laney 

Independence has drawn a line in the sand to protect its football program.

Independence and Shady Spring will no longer play each other in any sport after this school year as confirmed by multiple sources to Lootpress Thursday morning.

Shady decided not to renew its football contract with Independence, forcing the Patriots to enact their new school-wide rule where if another school chooses not to play them in one sport, they will drop said school across all sports in regular season play.

Independence first enacted the rule earlier this year with Wyoming East, removing East from all schedules after the Warriors told Independence they would not be renewing their contact to play in football.

“That’s their rule and that’s their choice,” Shady Spring Athletic Director and boys basketball coach Ronnie Olson said. “You know, I’m not gonna be upset or mad over it but as an AD and a coach I disagree. I had a similar situation happen to me where Nicholas County dropped us and I didn’t tell any of my coaches to drop them in any other sports. I didn’t tell the football team to drop them, the tennis team to drop them or our golf team. If we had a ping pong team, I wouldn’t tell them either. I’m not gonna make any other program in our school do it. They’re all separate entities and there’s different working parts so I wouldn’t do it as an AD or as a coach but I mean, that’s their decision and that’s, that’s definitely their right to do that. Whether I disagree or not, I get it and I understand what they’re trying to do.”

Olson’s approach is to allow his coaches to make their own schedules, thus he doesn’t question when they add or drop a team from year to year. He stands by football coach Vince Culicerto’s decision to discontinue the series after Culicerto told him he felt it was the best direction for the program.

“Vince has earned that right after he’s coached for 20 years,” Olson said. “He earned that right to make his own schedule, whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent, and people may form an opinion but it’s his right. My coaches and our coaches are allowed to make their own schedules and I’m not gonna micromanage that. He’s been in the game a long time. So, for him to think that he needs to go a different way, I accept that and I respect his opinion.”

Culicerto was vague in his reasoning for dropping Independence but was clear that he didn’t like some of the recent trends he was noticing.

“Personally there were just some unwritten roles in coaching and competition that I thought were broken over the last few years,” Culicerto said. “I’m not gonna mention what it is because it’s personal but I feel (Independence) knows what it is. But you know, a lot of other folks have felt the same. I think you will find out there’s more teams that will follow suit. I wish we were still playing them. I enjoyed that game every year and the last few years, it turned into something different that I didn’t like and you know, you don’t have to play.

“There are rules you know, that you can’t break while you’re in competition with some folks or they’ll drop you. In my career, earlier I did the same thing and I have never had a problem since with anybody. I’ve not dropped anyone in the area. And a lot of people have not dropped me. Some folks have dropped me and mended the fences and gotten back and some dropped me and it was just pure mistake or they were going in another direction and then they wanted me back and I took them back because there were never any problems. But this just wasn’t good for my kids or good for our team. I think we’d be better off not playing.”

The change comes on the heels of Indy’s rise to statewide success in football, having compiled an 8-3 postseason record over the last four years. Over that span the Patriots have competed in a pair of Class AA championship games, winning one.

Shady Spring and Independence have played each other in football every year since 1978 including during the stretch from 2012-15 when Shady was bumped up to Class AAA while Independence remained in double-A. Shady holds a 26-21 record in the all-time series but hasn’t won since beating Independence 34-0 in 2019.

Culicerto insisted the change in fortunes wasn’t the reason for dropping Indy even if the optics aren’t good.

“I’m comfortable with that and they can say whatever they want about me,” Culicerto said. “A lot of folks know it’s not true. I’ve been busted by a lot of teams in my career. Point Pleasant, Keyser, I’ve played all over the place and we went to triple-A and went to Musselman and Princeton. One time they just absolutely destroyed us but I’ve been down that road and I’ve kept playing folks if need be until the contracts are up and area teams I’ve kept them with everybody. I’ve had my days with tearing them up and they’ve had their days with tearing me up and I know that comes with it. That’s no big deal because you know it’s gonna come back around. And it does but I haven’t had these things occur in awhile. I’m dropping this thing because it’s not right what’s going on. That’s the way I feel and my administration backed me up. It’s a shame that they don’t want to play anything else. I don’t understand that because this has to do with football. But you know, if they think that’ll help I don’t know, I think it’s just hurting but they can do what they want and move on.”

Culicerto doesn’t have an idea when the programs will play again in football, but has an idea of what will need to happen to mend those fences.

“You know, maybe over time and maybe when there are different participants,” Culicerto said. “We’re talking about administration, maybe different coaches down the road, you know? That’s a possibility. But we’ve made the decision and stuck to it and just want to put it behind us and move on.”