HANFORD – A ranch foreman here continues to plow opponents in high school girls basketball, yet cries of dirty play are hardly heard.

In an era where brutal beatings in youth athletics often are condemned nationally, Hanford High's girls basketball program is instead hailed as a standard bearer under off-campus coach Tom Parrish despite winning often by unthinkable margins.

That included a 103-3 throttling of Kingsburg this season.

"I'll be honest," says junior Amber Carson, whose Vikings trailed the Bullpups 70-2 at halftime, "it's all about dedication and that's what Hanford has more than the rest of us. It's not about poor sportsmanship. Those girls work so hard to be that good. They beat us fair and square, and I had no problem with it."

Yet a national alarm sounded when Christian Heritage walloped West Ridge Academy 108-3 in a Utah high school girls basketball game last month. The score found its way onto the Internet and in the "Go Figure" strip of Sports Illustrated.

The Central Section has a history of similar controversy in girls basketball, each case involving programs advanced far beyond most of their local competition.

That has been the case for years at Yosemite under coach Gary Blate, whose Badgers, for example, crushed Dos Palos 89-12 and 99-17 in 2006. And never has there been an outcry as furious as the one generated by Memorial and coach Mary Brown in the '70s. Memorial's 95-0 blitz of Madera in 1975 remains a state record for most points scored in a shutout.

Remarkably, protests have escaped Hanford, which surely will deliver another name-the-score win tonight at Mt. Whitney in the West Yosemite League, where the Bullpups have not only won 58 consecutive games, they've won by an average margin of 48 points.

Hanford, which found another level of competition Saturday in a 79-47 home-court loss to the nation's eighth-ranked St. Mary's-Stockton, is ranked 14th in the state a year after it went 31-4 and finished No. 8. The Bullpups have scored at least 100 points seven times in three years.

This season, Hanford also has beaten Mt. Whitney 94-7 and Golden West 78-3 in games that had the Pioneers (60-0) and Trailblazers (52-0) shut out at halftime.

Opposing take

Golden West coach Mark Avedian has lost to Hanford four times by an average of 67 points in two years, but never has he asked Parrish to say he's sorry.

"Actually, I've apologized to Tom," Avedian says. "I've said, 'Hey, I'm sorry we're not better.' He hasn't tried to run it up."

Avedian's sentiments are common among coaches in the WYL.

Louie Perez, Redwood's coach and WYL basketball representative has come no closer than 32 points to the Bullpups in seven losses spanning four seasons: "No one's ever complained to me and I'm the head of the league. Bottom line: They play hard, but Tom's not trying to run it up."

Parrish coaches as he manages vast Zoeneveld Farms in Kings County – with a firm grip and pursuit of rich harvest: "My priority is to achieve perfection."

It's been proven nationally, however, that such pursuit can cause alarm when a blowout results.

That West Ridge is a school for at-risk youth further tested the sensitivity of the issue and no doubt helped launch the story nationally out of Utah.

The school's coach and administrators reportedly didn't harbor ill feelings or ask for an apology. But they got it anyway from Christian Heritage's coach and players.

Depth and quality

At Hanford, the Bullpups' depth and quality of talent groomed in a youth program has even the most neutral and knowledgable observers reaching for answers.