Loudon-Gibbs

[ClemsonDad]

There was a thread started and I think there may have been a posting that was inappropriate but this is a relevant topic and the reason many of us read Coach T: Not to read the trash but to sift through the teenagers and wanna-be's to find meaningful dialogue.

 

This was a good game between two very frustrated teams that obviously got out of hand. But what I saw on the field (and yes, I was there) was some "fire in the belly" of players on both teams and I'm talking about the game that was played after the brawl.

 

To me, it indicates what kids can accomplish when they are really focused. Both teams had kids step up and play well in the fourth quarter. The play certainly seemed much better after all the fighting.

 

Hopefully young men on both sides of the ball will learn that they have to control themselves. I suspect that Loudon will feel it a bit more next week when they have to play their arch-rival Lenoir City without several key players. Still, that is part of what makes this game great--the opportunity to learn lessons in the arena that our playing fields represent.

 

So if the thread gets clobbered again, so be it. Otherwise, I open this up to positive rhetoric.

[McRail1]

Which players got ejected...and which team started the fight, was it out of anger or just pure frustration

[ClemsonDad]

LOL: I'm not about to get into a mess like that. I was in the incredibly rare (for me) position of simply sitting in the stands with my wife (who sees very little of me this time of year) and other members of our family. I'm an athletic trainer and am on the sidelines every Friday night.

 

I don't really want to list those ejected, although I did have a nephew in the group (he left the bench--but there's no way on God's green earth he punched anybody).

 

How did it start? If you know high school football, you know that all sorts of bad things go on at the bottom of a pile-up. I believe that is how it started. I'll not get into how the officals and coaches handled it but I did sense that the frustration of sub-par seasons from both teams culminated in this incident. I do believe that the head coaches for both teams responded with class and dignity from their quotes in the Knoxville newspaper today.

 

As for nothing positive possible from that situation, I disagree. Sports are life lessons. Young men that were ejected and had to watch from the hill overlooking the football field will hopefully learn that they are responsible for their actions and when they misbehave, they must suffer the consequences. Believe me, when the Loudon kids can't play against Lenoir City next week, they will hurt. Will they learn from that? I hope so.

 

"For on the fields of friendly strife are borne the lessons that will carry us through the trials of life." (Douglas Macarthur)

[Knoxsoddyboy]

Seventeen players ejected after Loudon-Gibbs brawl

By PAUL MCAFEE, Special to the News Sentinel

October 22, 2004

 

Loudon High School won a huge Region 2-3A football game Thursday night at Gibbs, but the outcome was tainted by a second-half brawl that resulted in 10 players from Loudon and seven from Gibbs ejected.

 

A Loudon assistant coach, whose name was not revealed, was also ejected after drawing two unsportsmanlike penalties late in the game for arguing a personal foul.

 

 

 

As for the game, Charlie Hampton scored on a 2-yard run and added a two-point conversion run with 3:45 left in a wild 15-14 victory for Loudon. Gibbs' kicker Derek Cole came up just short on a 40-yard field goal attempt with 55 seconds to play.

 

Neither head coach would reveal the names of the ejected players. A referee refused to comment on the situation, saying only "We don't need any reporters in our locker room."

 

Loudon coach Jeff Harig said he doesn't expect his players to be available next week against Lenoir City under TSSAA rules governing fighting.

 

"It is my understanding that players who are ejected have to miss the next game," said Harig, whose team remains in contention for a playoff spot with a 2-5 region record and 2-7 overall. "With that many players out, it will be tough."

 

Gibbs (4-5, 2-4) plays at Fulton next week.

 

The fight broke out between two players with less than 1:50 left in the third quarter after Loudon returned a kickoff. The brawl quickly escalated, with a number of players from both squads involved. The referees needed several minutes to sort out the situation before announcing the ejections.

 

"What can you say?" Harig said. "We are both better than that. Frustrations boiled over. I don't condone this. We just have to go by what the referee said."

 

Gibbs coach Randy Carroll echoed the sentiment of Harig.

 

"I don't know what will happen. It's not my decision," he said. "I really hate this happened with all the ejections. There is no place for that in high school football. I think the officials did as good a job as they could have considering people were everywhere."

 

Gibbs led 6-0 before the fight. Linebacker J.R. Day recovered a fumble at the Loudon 5-yard-line and fought his way into the end zone. The extra-point try was no good.

 

Following the fight, Loudon moved 70 yards and scored on a 20-yard pass from Cody Fritts to Taylor Eldridge.

 

Gibbs responded with a 74-yard TD pass from Tyler Kitts to Shaun Lyon. Kitts then passed to Logan Dockins for two points to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead at 8:43.

 

The Redskins then moved 68 yards for the winning score.

[ClemsonDad]

Actually, the "sports" part of it may have started after the fight (despite the last possession penalties-more on that in a minute). Some kids with attitudes on both sides of the ball got tossed and the kids that were there to play football stepped up.

 

Not arguing the point-I appreciate your comments. Guess it is my habit to see the glass as half full.

 

As to the last set of penalties: I would like to see the incident that got the Loudon linebacker tossed. I thought I saw him hit the quarterback just at the release but I could have been wrong. If he got tossed for that, then the referee over-reacted. The bench penalties were probably deserved, but then I suspect that were more of those that could have been assessed. All in all, it WAS a bad situation. If I have time later, I'll tell you about a really funny incident after the game that I had with a local cop.

[internet]

They ejected some players they definately shouldn't have, I know at least on the Loudon side. People on the field already so they couldn't had left the bench, and people who would never throw a punch, they are appealing it as we speak.

[volnative]

I was at the game last night and from my understanding the refs really blew it. If I'm not mistaking tssaa rules state that anyone who leaves the sidelines is to be ejected and they also will be suspended for the next game. The kid from Gibbs from what I've found out made a racial remark that started the brawl. The whole Loudon County team came off the sidelines and was involved. The coaches on the Gibbs sideline kept their kids their and the only ones that were involved were the eleven on the field. Not all of the Loudon players were throwing punches, but everyone on the Loudon team was on the field. The gibbs players that were on the field were trying to pull 14 or 15 loudon players off of the one kid who started the brawl as was many of the other Loudon players and coaches. One problem is that Gibbs had players ejected that had not played all night and had never left the sidelines. From what I've been told because everyone on the Loudon sidelines was on the field, the game should have been forfeited at that point. I do know that the outcome is already being contested. I myself recorded the game and have watched it several times and it's clear that everyone from Loudon was on the field while the Gibbs coaches kept theur players on the sidelines. If the TSSAA doesn't act on this, it will just show everyone around the State that rules are meant to be broken. It will also be rewarding teams that empty the sidelines to get involved in a brawl and at the same time penalize the coach and his team that remains in control and stay's out of the mess.

[fultonfalcon2006]

i was there myself. i umpire baseball and i see these kind of things every once in a while. it is tough to decide who through the punches but it is a judgement call. i personally thought the officials made the right call, but thats my own personal opinion. if there is video evidence that shows someone that got ejected didnt do anything then they should be able to play in there next but in a big pile like that its tough to see.

[Newschoolredskinfan]

i saw the game and yes it was hard to see who threw what punch but i know for a fact that adam russle and ben didnt do anything at all and form what ive heard the players say the gibbs players had called the loudon black players the N word the whole game and im not sayin it was right but if i played and i saw my teammate fightin i wouldnt stay there and let it happen and everyone said gibbs was held back i highly dought that if they really cared about there team mate then nothing could have stopped them and loudons side lines wasnt all empty some ppl stayed so im sayin gibbs got what they asked for and if loudon must forfit the win then tssa needs to do something about gibbs makein raceist remarks toward players cause that will just lead to more fights

[OldSchoolRedskinFan]

The whole Loudon County team came off the sidelines and was involved. The coaches on the Gibbs sideline kept their kids their and the only ones that were involved were the eleven on the field. Not all of the Loudon players were throwing punches, but everyone on the Loudon team was on the field. The gibbs players that were on the field were trying to pull 14 or 15 loudon players off of the one kid who started the brawl as was many of the other Loudon players and coaches. One problem is that Gibbs had players ejected that had not played all night and had never left the sidelines. From what I've been told because everyone on the Loudon sidelines was on the field, the game should have been forfeited at that point. I do know that the outcome is already being contested. I myself recorded the game and have watched it several times and it's clear that everyone from Loudon was on the field while the Gibbs coaches kept theur players on the sidelines. If  the TSSAA doesn't act on this, it will just show everyone around the State that rules are meant to be broken. It will also be rewarding teams that empty the sidelines to get involved in a brawl and at the same time penalize the coach and his team that remains in control and stay's out of the mess.

825395080[/snapback]

 

Are you serious? No, really... is this guy joking? First off, NO! not all of Loudon's team left the sidelines, I don't care what you say on your supposed film has(which I would love to watch). And yes, I know at least one of the boys who did not leave the sidelines was ejected. Second of all, could this post be any more bias? Really, I am a Redskin fan and will be till the day I'm burried in my grave, but I cannot recall ever posting something as bias as this. You want to dismiss the fact that the boy called Loudon's player a N-word then you deal with that in your own way. And it is my understanding that it was happening all night. There is NO place in football for that kind of crap. Yeah, I'm sure it happens all the time, but that don't make it right. And God help the boy who made those kind of statements. If he has to resort to that kind of trash, then good for the player who threw the first punch. As for 14 or 15 players being on one boy, that is definately garbage. As much as he deserved to have his tail-end stomped, there wasn't a kid on the field (Loudon or Gibbs) that had 14 or 15 players on him. That is an absud statement that only demonstrates the biases that lie within this posting. Next, you let the TSSAA decide what will happen. Let them watch film to see what happened and they will decide what is fitting, not some bias... nevermind. Too big for name calling. Anyway, I don't know how many players left the Gibbs sidelines, but there were some. I personally would like to commend any Loudon player who left the sideline for his teamate. I also may have made comments about the coaching staff at Loudon a time or two, but BRAVO to the Coach who was thrown out. He protested a spurious call. Yeah about that... if you watched the film so many times, how come you did not mention the last boy to get thrown out. The Loudon player that was thrown out for TACKLING the QB. The ref. said he was trying to punch the Gibbs QB in the ribs. I do feel that it should not have come to fighting, but it did. And when a Redskins is difficult situation, it's good to know that he can count on his teamates (and his Coach).

P.S. Good Luck to the Coaching staff at Loudon in their meeting with TSSAA officials.

Edited October 25, 2004 by robjim

[OldSchoolRedskinFan]

Oops! I forgot to add something. You also forgot to mention the warm good-bye that the Gibbs community gave Loudon on it's hurried exit (this is because they were told to leave). As Loudon left plenty of Gibbs lovely towns-people decided that they would yell obscenities along with raise some delightful hand jestures toward the Loudon players and fans. Now we can see where the player who made the statement got it from. Shame on Gibbs Football and community. Oh, and that does not include the other send-off that Loudon recieved. The Loudon football bus recieved it's own special good-bye from an additional party. It is hear-say, that while the Loudon bu swas stopped, they recieved the same trearment as metioned above. However, I think it was recieved differently. But we'll leave that to the person who obtained the result of his barbaric actions to disclose. This post was made with as much sarcasm as possible. However the events did occur.

[Newschoolredskinfan]

first of all loudon shouldnt have done what they done and ive found out some things the coachs went to the tssaa meeting and hears what i heard from a player to other boys will be lost but 3 of the ones who got threw might me reinstated

ps oldschool i got my name from great ideal