Washington, Michigan City dissecting incident
Washington High School
Posted: Sunday, August 23, 2015 7:00 am | Updated: 9:22 am, Sun Aug 23, 2015.
By Al Lesar South Bend Tribune
Negative sportsmanship issues that happen during the heat of battle in high school football can’t be excused as “part of the game” situations.
Accountability, coaches will tell you, is the essence of high school sports.
Saturday, officials from Michigan City and Washington high schools took a significant step in the accountability process. They met for 90 minutes to discuss exactly what happened in the altercation that caused four players to be ejected and their Friday night football game to be canceled, with the Panthers leading 20-13 late in the first half.
According to Kirby Whitacre, athletic director for the South Bend Community School Corp., one of the problems in this fact-finding mission was that videos shot by both teams failed to record the incident, which reportedly was ignited when a Washington player was flagged for a late hit on the Wolves’ sidelines.
Washington’s camera turned off as soon as the play ended. Michigan City’s camera had a poor view of the conflict.
“We’ve watched (the Michigan City film) over and over and over,” said Whitacre, who wasn’t at the game.
Whitacre felt confident in a couple assertions: No fans left the stands and joined in the fisticuffs, and Washington head coach Jay Johnson and his staff did an admirable job keeping his players from leaving the sidelines to join the confusion.
“The film was very clear (about the number of Washington players involved),” Whitacre said. “... There is no indication, whatsoever, that the Washington players not in the game left the sideline and came across the field.”
“I have full confidence in every part of our staff,” said Washington first-year athletic director Garland Hudson, who was in the middle of everything Friday night. “Our staff is a highly intelligent group. Their focus was on the kids and not making it an issue where it would get out of control.
“At no point did I feel that our staff had lost control of the players that were on our sidelines.”
Emotions were running high even before the sideline incident. Referees recognized it and had called a timeout to calm the scene.
“It’s not so much that I would say (the possibility of an incident) was brewing,” said Garland, “but (the referees) were being proactive so that something leading up to what happened could be prevented.
“There are things we could control and things we could not. Be clear, we are proactive in anything related to sportsmanship. That was our plan to begin with.”
Whitacre bristled at the public comments he has seen, referring to the incident being called a “brawl,” and the players — from both teams — being called “thugs.”
“I don’t think that’s an accurate characterization,” Whitacre said. “We had an incident at a football game and all reasonable precautions were taken. The game was suspended because the Michigan City Police felt that they didn’t want to have another (Griffith-Hammond basketball melee that involved fans) last year.”
Did the Michigan City Police overreact? Neither Whitacre nor Hudson would go there. The authorities made a call and… that was that.
“The police did what they thought was best for everybody’s safety,” Hudson said. “Nobody questioned that.”
What was in question was a Michigan City police officer’s comment to the Michigan City News Dispatch that, “… the number of (players) that left the sidelines and the number of ejections, neither team would have had enough players to (continue).”
If the referees’ incident report sent to the IHSAA is upheld, those four players would not be allowed to play next Friday.
However, Washington officials contend that one of their players was misidentified on the report.
That’s the kind of detail that will be worked out as officials sort through eye-witness interviews conducted Saturday. Each school was to complete a final report Sunday and share it with the other school. Then, the reports will be sent to the IHSAA, and discussions with commissioner Bobby Cox and assistant commissioner Robert Faulkens, a South Bend LaSalle High grad, will happen Monday.
“I am encouraged that the member schools are meeting to discuss this matter,” Cox said in an email to The Tribune. “Assistant commissioner Robert Faulkens has been in contact with school officials and contest officials concerning this incident. I will not have any comments to share until we have collected the data available, had an opportunity to analyze the materials and conduct discussions with our member schools.
“From a general perspective, I am saddened that yet another display of poor sportsmanship has stained an otherwise tremendous opening night of high school football in our state.”
Michigan City plays Northridge next Friday, and Washington takes on Jimtown at Clay Field.
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