Item: St. Paul-Santa Fe Springs and Notre Dame-Riverside high schools of Southern California engage in a melee recently wih players leaving both benches.
The game is ruled a double-forfeit and both teams will also have to forfeit their next game because so many players were ejected that they don’t have enough to play this week.
Item: A Southern California community college football player is suspended for five years for knocking out a referee during a game.
The player for Mount San Antonio College, Brandon Schirmer, appeared to strike the official with a short punch, knocking him to the ground.
The impact is big for St. Paul and Notre Dame, as well as Schirmer, meaning automatic losses for the teams and probably the end to Schirmer’s playing career.
Football is a violent game and on-field brouhahas are not unheard of. One that springs to mind happened in 1972 when Serra High traveled to San Jose’s PAL Stadium to meet San Jose High.
San Jose was a strong team that season and Serra that year won a co-West Catholic Athletic League title. There was an early hint of bad blood in the second half when Serra fullback/linebacker Vince Tammaro took a half-hearted swipe at a San Jose player and by chance snatched the helmet off his head. He then hurled the headgear 15 yards and was not penalized.
Following a narrow Serra win, the situation combusted while the teams were shaking hands. Before long a melee had ensued that resulted in two ambulances showing up, one to take away a San Jose player with a broken leg and another to collect a Serra player who had been hit in the face with a helmet.
Neighborhood children tossed rocks at the Serra bus as it left the venue.
One SoCal pundit, commenting on the St. Paul vs. Notre Dame incident, said something like “when will players learn?” The problem is, the players usually have no experience in such things. Riots don’t happen often enough to provide any teach-able moments.
As with the unfortunate phenomenon of hazing, it’s up to school personnel and the coaches to inform their teams that if they engage in on-field or on-court violence or leave the bench, they’ll probably be sitting out the next game. That’s a big portion of a player’s career and not worth a mindless punch of an opponent nor sprint onto the field.
Violence is almost a part of the fabric of the sport in major league baseball where beanballs and dust-ups are common and hockey where fights are as frequent as foggy days on the coast. That doesn't mean fist needs to fly nor players need to flood the field at the prep level.
GOLDEN GIRL: United States Olympic water polo gold medalist KK Clark, a 2008 Sacred Heart Prep grad, reeturned to SHP on Tuesday to speak to community members and be issued a proclamation by the Town of Atherton, according to a release.
Clark took part in a poolside chat mid-day and attended a Gators' practice later in the afternoon.
SURF LUAU ON TAP: The Half Moon Bay Surf Club’s Surf Luau is at 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the I.D.E.S. Hall on Main Street in Half Moon Bay. The event is a fundraiser for the high school and middle school surf teams.
There will be a Kalua pig dinner and live music by Matt Jaffe and the Distractions and Steve Espaniola. Hula will be presented by the Hapa Mahina Hula Group. There is also a raffle and silent auction.
Tickets are $60 for adults, $30 for children 5-12 and $70 at the door for adults and may be purchased at bccoastside.ejoinme.org/luau
TIP-OFF CLASSIC SET: The 10th annual NorCal Tip-Off Classic is November 26 at Newark Memorial High. Here is the lineup of games:
11 a.m. St. Patrick's-Vallejo vs. Monte Vista-Danville; 12:30 p.m. Dublin vs. Las Lomas; 2:15 p.m.: Berkeley vs. Christian Brothers; 3:45 p.m.: Moreau Catholic vs. Immanuel-Reedley; 5:30 p.m.: Capital Christian-Sacramento vs. Bishop Alemany-Mission Hills;
7 p.m.: Newark Memorial vs. Woodcreek-Roseville; 8:30 p.m.: Bishop O'Dowd vs. Bishop Montgomery-Torrance.
TIGERS’ LOOS EXCELS: Notre Dame-Belmont’s Alexandria Loos took third overall in the Fleet Feet Women’s Triathlon Championship on Sunday in Galt. She completed the 300-yard open water swim, 5-mile bike ride and 1-mile trail run in 25:07.
John Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@prep2prep.com
