As if there are not enough problems on the border, this out of Laredo, TX
lmtonline.com
LISD, UISD react to fight
By Kenny Ryan
Laredo Morning Times
“Unacceptable,” “disappointing” and “frustrating” are all common words being used to describe the on-field brawl that took place between Alexander and Cigarroa during their Thursday night football game at the SAC.
The fight, which took place at the end of the third quarter and resulted in the ejection of a single athlete from each team, was the boiling point of a physical and often frustrating night in which both teams picked up a combined 12 personal fouls.
A day later, long after the Bulldogs had earned a 62-8 victory, emotions on both sides have begun to cool as coaches and administrators searched for answers and ways to prevent a repeat of the incident.
The Scene
Near the end of the third quarter, Alexander had driven to the Toros’ 1-yard line looking to enhance an already significant lead.
A quarterback keeper bridged the distance to the goal line, and Alexander’s Brian Swain took the ball into the end zone to stretch his team’s lead to 55-8 with an extra point pending.
What happened next wasn’t entirely clear, but somewhere in the mass of teenagers near the goal line, one player provoked another and the surrounding athletes were suddenly embroiled in a frenzy of pushing, elbowing and punching.
The fight took place on the side of the field nearest the Cigarroa sideline and several Cigarroa players left the bench, later telling coaches they only went to pull their comrades away from the fight.
Coaches on both sides took action to contain their players to the sideline as the angry mass of somewhere between 22 and 30 athletes was sorted out and separated by officials, staffers and coaches.
The crowd on both sides of the stands, meanwhile, got to their feet and began yelling toward the field, an act that one coach later said aggravated the situation.
It took roughly one or two long minutes to separate the teams.
One player from each was ejected as a consequence: Swain from Alexander and Jesus Sanchez from Cigarroa.
Alexander began to work its backups into the game and, despite a few more flags for personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct, the fourth quarter avoided a second significant fight as the game
reached its conclusion and the two teams were sent home without the customary shaking of hands after the game.
The Build-Up
The slow march toward disorder began early in the game and became exacerbated as the contest moved on.
From the press box, it steadily became apparent that several fouls were going uncalled.
Two situations that stood out as being especially egregious and went uncalled seemed to noticeably antagonize each team on separate occasions.
During the final minute before halftime, several seconds after a play had been whistled dead, an Alexander defensive player body-slammed a Cigarroa athlete who was lying on the ground.
The referee must not have seen the attack as no flag was thrown.
But then, as Cigarroa argued its case and tried to draw the foul to the referee’s attention, the man in stripes threw a flag against the Toros for unsportsmanlike behavior, further frustrating Cigarroa.
At another point in the game, an Alexander athlete was returning a punt and running down the sideline.
A Cigarroa defender closed in on the return man and grabbed him by the facemask, using it as leverage to throw the Bulldog to the ground and crash down on top of him.
Again, no flag was thrown.
“The frustration with both teams was there,” said Cigarroa coach Frank De Hoyos.
“People were a bit flagrant on both sides and it got out of control.”
Both incidents were indicative of the type of plays that often went unchecked in the time leading up to the brawl.
“I saw one of our kids grabbed by the facemask and body slammed,” said Alexander coach Joel Lopez.
“Well, those things can be very frustrating. It got to the point where even our kids were getting into pushing and shoving and stuff. I was very disappointed with the way things ended up.”
On the administrative side of things, UISD Athletics Director Bobby Cruz, who’s responsible for the venue in which the game was played, said he noticed early on things were getting out of hand and acted accordingly by calling in extra security well before the fight took place.
“The score was getting out of hand, flags were being thrown, there was a lot of jawing back and forth,” Cruz said.
“The end of the first quarter is when we started making plans and making calls.”
Cruz’s swift action may have helped prevent a larger disturbance from taking place.
“We realized the game was heated and we immediately increased our police presence,” Cruz said.
“By halftime, we had almost doubled our security.
We had the parking lot covered, the field, the gates, the stands, the front of the fieldhouse and the buses (covered.)”
The Blame
As coaches and administrators looked back at Thursday night, everyone seems to have a finger pointed in a different direction.
Lopez laid the blame for the skirmish almost entirely at the feet of the Toros.
“The feedback I was getting from our kids was that they (Toros) were getting hands inside of their facemasks, pulling on their mouth or eyeballs or noses,” Lopez said.
“A lot of scratching was going on inside the facemask.”
Cruz supported his coach’s position.
“He (Lopez) is passionate about his team and he’s going to defend his team, as am I,” Cruz said.
“I’m biased, of course, and I’m going to defend our kids. I fully understand and support Coach Lopez and his comments.
“If we’re wrong, then so be it, we’re wrong, but in this case we’ve never had a problem with Lopez or any of our coaches.”
De Hoyos strongly disagreed with the accusation his team was solely at fault, pointing out “it takes two to tango.”
“We don’t condone it at Cigarroa. That’s not Toros football and we don’t teach that and I’m pretty sure Lopez doesn’t teach that over there,” De Hoyos said.
“I know it’s not all Cigarroa’s fault. I’m sure some of it comes with Alexander, too.”
Rather than pointing to Alexander as the instigators, De Hoyos suggested some failure rested with the referees for allowing the game to get out of hand.
“The truth of the matter is the refs didn’t blow the whistles when they had to,” De Hoyos said.
“Sometimes the whistle needs to be blown a little bit quicker.
The officials are the ones managing and controlling the game and when the whistle isn’t blown or the flag isn’t thrown, tempers flare.”
Lopez, Cruz, and LISD Athletics Director Rene Ramirez all expressed similar sentiments.
“There were a couple plays when the refs could have blown the whistle but they didn’t,” Ramirez said.
“I really can’t point fingers to either of the kids from Cigarroa or Alexander.
The game of football is a game of emotions and one of the things lost (Thursday night) was control of emotions.”
The Consequences
Regardless of whether the other team or the referees are to blame, the coaches and administrators realize full well the only people they have any control over are the athletes on their own teams.
The two sides are taking different approaches in their disciplinary measures.
“Usually what will happen is the referees will submit a UIL report and within the next 10 days the UIL will receive it and send it back to me.
The UIL will want a written response to the account of what happened and the circumstances and what actions we will take, if any,” Cruz said.
“I’ll meet with Coach Lopez (later on Friday) and if there’s any game footage, we’ll take a look at it and see if, in fact, we do have to take disciplinary action and go from there.”
Friday’s meeting between Lopez and Cruz was to be a follow-up to a meeting the two held immediately after the game ended.
“I know, in my heart, my player didn’t do anything,” Lopez said.
“Brian got ejected, so I need to see what he did, and if in my opinion it deserved an ejection, I want to know.
If it merits a suspension for another quarter, then I’ll do it.”
Cigarroa, on the other hand, isn’t waiting for a letter from the UIL or for a look at video of the incident before taking action.
“We’ve already started,” Ramirez said. “We had our meeting with Coach De Hoyos.
I also had a meeting with the whole football team during their athletic period and will meet with the coaching staff (later Friday).
“We will also meet with the parents of the students to make sure they know this behavior is unacceptable.
We don’t want to see it in the future.”
Added De Hoyos: “If something like this happens again, that player will no longer play for Cigarroa football.”
