Good sportsmanship and winning can go hand in hand. Just ask Dr. Peter Hantzis, head soccer coach for Woburn High School (Massachusetts). Before the 1997 season, Dr. Hantzis told his players that anyone receiving a yellow card would sit on the bench for the rest of the game. No exceptions.

Since then, Dr. Hantzis’s teams have accumulated only one yellow card (for delay of game) in 54 games, yet have won three league titles, 36 straight league games, one state championship, and, in the fall of 2001 are looking for their fourth league title in the last five years. Remarkably, only one red card has been issued to a player coached by Dr. Hantzis in his 23 years as a high school varsity coach.

There is usually one yellow card handed out in most high school soccer games, and during Woburn’s last 54 games, Dr. Hantzis estimates that about 25 to 30 yellows have been issued to Woburn’s opponents, as well as a few red cards.

“The 36 straight wins can be matched - get a good group of young players and that can be done,” Dr. Hantzis told The Boston Globe. “The one yellow card in 54 games, I just can’t imagine any team, anywhere in the country doing that. It’s not possible. As a coach, I’m most probue of that, to see 15-, 16- and 17-year olds play with that kind of poise.”

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