The Le Grand High football team is facing a three-game suspension resulting from an altercation with Tranquillity High at a scrimmage last week held at Le Grand High School.
The California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Section office, which is the governing body of high school athletics, informed Le Grand of the disciplinary action on Wednesday.
Le Grand was scheduled to play its season opener at Livingston High on Friday night.
Sac-Joaquin Section Assistant Commissioner Will DeBoard estimates between 25 to 30 Le Grand players were involved in the fight during the scrimmage that was held on Friday, Aug. 16. All of the players involved with the altercation would be subject to a three-game suspension according to section bylaws.
With a roster about 35 players, after the suspensions Le Grand doesn’t have enough players to field a team.
The Sac-Joaquin Section changed its bylaw last year so that any player involved in a fight or altercation that occurs during a scrimmage will face the same penalty as during a game.
“We treat scrimmages as contests, meaning somebody who fights or somebody who leaves the bench during a fight, they’re going to be out for for at least three games,” DeBoard said.
“We’ve determined that a majority of the team was either involved in the fight or left the bench,” DeBoard added. “Le Grand needs to determine who those kids are and they may very well find out that they’re able to field a team. That’s always a possibility, but if the majority of their team was at that scrimmage, the majority of their team is probably suspended for three games.”
Le Grand Union High School District Superintendent Donna Alley said the school will appeal the decision.
“We acknowledge the decision by CIF with the suspension of our team due to an altercation during a scrimmage with Tranquillity last Friday,” Alley said. “However, we’re disappointed with the outcome, and we are appealing the decision with CIF.”
Alley said school administrators are willing to work with the section to identify specific kids who were really involved in the altercation versus suspending the whole team.
“The CIF has gotten very strict on their rules, especially with sportsmanship and stepping onto a court or a field if there’s an altercation happening,” Alley added. “It just feels very harsh at this point.”
Alley said she’s unsure if the school will hear anything on its appeal in time to salvage Friday’s game.
Parents of Le Grand players spoke out during public comment portion at the Le Grand Union High School District board meeting on Wednesday night.
Many parents implored the board and administrators to appeal the ruling to CIF. They told the board that the players were trying to protect themselves and they’ve worked too hard to have these games taken from
One parent called the three-game suspension for players an “extreme consequence.”
Le Grand head coach Aaron Martinez also spoke during the board meeting.
“The conversation for the young men was that we’re going to take full responsibility for our actions,” Martinez told the board members. “But by no means did I tell them I was disappointed in them for the simple fact that in a hostile environment, they defended themselves, each other, and we got out of harms way to the best of our ability.”
Le Grand’s first three opponents Livingston, Ripon Christian and Orestimba can now either scramble to find another opponent or takea forfeit victory.
“It’s unfortunate because after weeks of practice we were ready to go,” said Livingston coach Steven Wine. “We enjoy playing Le Grand. I heard one of our players in class say, ‘Now we don’t get to play a home game until September 20.’ We’re not going to play in front of our home crowd for awhile now. It’s not just us, our band, cheerleaders and spirit section were ready to go.”
Livingston athletic director Scott Winton reached out to Riverdale High in the Central Section to see if its football team was available to play this week because its opponent is Tranquillity.
However, the Riverdale-Tranquillity game is being played as scheduled.
Central Section commissioner Ryan Tos didn’t respond immediately to an e-mail asking if Tranquillity faced any disciplinary penalty for its part in the altercation with Le Grand.
Le Grand isn’t the first Merced County team dealing with suspensions after a brawl. There were 17 football players suspended after El Capitan and Delhi got into a fight in the opening week last year.
Following the three-game suspension, Le Grand’s first game this season will be at Delhi on Sept. 20.
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