February 11, 201511 yr The kid who pushed the other into the wall needs to be banned from ever playing another high school sport, criminal charges as well. If a player who threw a punch without it being in defense, they should be gone for the rest of the season and possibly into next season as well. If a player did not throw a punch but was only trying to restore order or get his teammates away, then I would be open to no punishment. As far as people coming out of the stands, it depends on the intent, what were they doing and what did the end up doing? I will tell you this, if I had a son who was playing in a game and this broke out, I'm headed to the floor to get him away from harm, that's it. But if someone is interfering with me doing so, or they are still trying to hit my son after I am trying to get away, then that is a different story. My only concern would be the safety of my son. Many parents would do the same. I do have issues with the players on the bench, and at least one parent, of the team in blue, after they saw the hard foul they started clapping. No class! We had a similar thing happen almost 11 years ago in LA during a tourney game in July, against Birmingham HS. We had a player from Perry County Central go up for an easy lay upon a break away, about halfway through the second half and we were starting to pull away, and an opposing player slams our player into the wall. The wall in the gym was about 10-12 feet from the baseline. The player then stood over our player taunting. Well, it ended up being a brawl. It was only me and 7 players as two of our players were not out in LA yet, and our fans got lost, the other team had about 12 players and 4 coaches. It was nuts! Parents and a grandmother coming out of the stands trying to get involved. But the host team got behind us to help restore order, until the tourney director called the game, giving us the win, and telling the other team they are out of the tourney, which started there whole thing back up again. As in our situation, this was not even near a basketball play, and people need to know that if your intent is to harm someone, in these cases serious harm, then you will face severe punishment.
February 11, 201511 yr IMO Coaches, Parents, Officials and Police seemed to get that in control pretty quickly. No way I suspend both programs unless there was something else not on that video. A few players yes, depending on their involvement.
February 11, 201511 yr That wasn't as bad as I envisioned, still not acceptable. Seems severe to punish both programs, unless there are prior things I don't know about. I agree with JD, identify the offenders and let the kids that weren't involved other than restoring order stay and play. This type of behavior is unacceptable, no doubt. But when you punish people for things they didn't do, that is unfair. The lesson I learn in that is if I am going to be punished anyway, I might as well enjoy the spoils.
February 11, 201511 yr Kudos to the IHSAA. While not every player left the bench area with the intention of fighting they did all leave the bench area. It is a very severe penalty for sure. It is a shame that both teams seasons are over for sure. But I bet the next time a scuffle starts on the court the teams involved will think twice before escalating it by rushing the court. We need more punishments like this honestly.
February 11, 201511 yr It sends a very stern message that such acts of idiocy will not be tolerated. Maybe, just maybe if more sanctioning bodies would hand down similar stern messages the game would get cleaned up. I abhor the trash talking, showboating and general unsportsmanlike behavior that seems to have become acceptable in sports.
February 11, 201511 yr Watching the video I'm surprised either team would be banned for the rest of the season. The adults did a great job of breaking it up and getting the kids separated. I even saw a mother pulling her kid away all by herself. The cops did a good job of restoring order and I didn't notice any serious fights breaking out anywhere. I can see suspending both teams for a a game or two but to call off the whole season for both teams is too much. I noticed the referee back off and just watch and I saw the cheerleader just drop the game ball and a kid picked it up and shot it at the end of the video. :lol2: That's me too. I've seen way worse at games in the Mountains.
February 11, 201511 yr One thing that always intrigues me about these types of situations is having 18-year old seniors involved. How do the laws apply in those situations? Usually reluctancy on behalf of the courts to apply criminal charges to a game unless things just get way, way out of hand. Maybe the kid punching someone from behind faces them, but that'd probably be it, and even that one isn't a guarantee.
February 11, 201511 yr Not sure where the uncalled for, incendiary, pejorative comments about the Lexington-Fayette Publics came in. No one ever goes to those games unless it's region, and I don't ever recall any problems in my years of attending them. In attending at least 50, and that's a conservative estimate, games in the 11th I've seen one kid, who was a fan, thrown out of a game, and one player throw a punch (during the action and not really a punch where he loaded up) that the refs missed. Otherwise, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary and have been to many games in other areas where things have been much worse. Saw a kid from Clay County dive for a loose ball at Jackson County and he wound up going into the stands, where he was punched and shoved when trying to get out of them and back onto the floor. One year a kid from Knox Central who sat on the end of the bench, after they'd just lost the district, comes up and decks Corbin's best player in the handshake line to get him ejected from the first game of region for fighting. Definitely have not seen anything like that at any of the LFCPS games.
February 11, 201511 yr Who is Randy Parker? :idunno: Public Enemy #1 according to Howard Schellenberger.
February 11, 201511 yr This happened in our city earlier this season. Here's the news story: Martinsville Coach promises "never again on his watch" after mid-game brawl | Local News - WDBJ7.com Central and Southwest VA Two people were arrested and players suspended. There was talk of no longer having any home games at Martinsville or closing them from the public because the gym is so small. But that hasn't happened. BTW, side note: Martinsville's coach is Jeff Adkins who is from here and played for Lefty at Maryland with Adrian Branch and Len Bias. Virginia hoops game transforms into brawl after fans rush court | USA Today High School Sports | USA Today High School Sports
February 11, 201511 yr That's me too. I've seen way worse at games in the Mountains. That Paintsville-Johnson Central one from a few years back was worse than this one, mostly because it involved so many people from the crowd.
February 28, 201511 yr Author Judge has told the IHSAA to reinstate these teams until a review is completed on Monday. Both teams practiced on Friday.
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