The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Suspensions pile up after fight
Harvey, Beachwood players face sanctions
The Harvey and Beachwood football teams will each be playing the rest of the season short-handed.
The Harvey and Beachwood football teams will each be playing the rest of the season shorthanded after a fight in last week’s game has resulted in multiple suspensions on both squads.
Beachwood athletic director Ryan Peters said up to 17 Bison players will miss time over the next two weeks, while Harvey athletic director Marwin Walling said an “unspecified number” of Red Raiders will sit out the final two games of the season.
Because of the large number of Beachwood players suspended, Peters said the Ohio High School Athletic Association granted the school the option of spreading the suspensions out over the final two weeks, with one group of players sitting out this week’s game against Chagrin Falls and another group sitting out the Week 10 game against Orange.
“As a district, we are very disappointed this occurred,” Peters said.
Said Walling, “It’s unfortunate. But based on our athletic constitution and our expectations, we can’t tolerate unsportsmanlike penalties like this – can’t do it.”
“It’s unfortunate. But based on our athletic constitution and our expectations, we can’t tolerate unsportsmanlike penalties like this – can’t do it.” – Harvey AD Marwin Walling
“As a district, we are very disappointed this occurred.” – Beachwood AD Ryan Peters
According to Peters, the on-field skirmish happened after Beachwood junior Letraize Walker scored on a 50yard touchdown run with 4½ minutes remaining in the game, a touchdown that gave the Bison a 32-7 lead.
A Harvey player, Peters said, “out of the blue blindsided” one of the Beachwood players, who was in the end zone. From there, the fight escalated, with coaches from each team hurrying to the scene to separate players from each other.
While game officials conversed about the situation and how to proceed, Walling and Peters met on the field. Both agreed it was best to end the game at that point.
“It was the determination of the officials and the athletic administrators on site to err on the side of the safety of the kids and end the contest,” Walling said.
The game officials, as they are required to do when there are ejections in a game, filed a report with the OHSAA. But Walling said both he and Harvey coach Dan Cvelbar viewed the videotape of the fight and were proactive in suspending the players who were involved.
“We have our athletic handbook, where we refer to discipline of our players,” Walling said. “Personally, I didn’t need to wait for the OHSAA ruling, based on what Dan and I observed.”
Walling, a Harvey graduate, said it wasn’t an easy decision to tell players they were being suspended, but that, “at the end of the day every player knows we care about them and will help them achieve what they want to achieve at Painesville City Schools,” but there was no other option.
“We didn’t feel we had to wait for the OHSAA to discipline our kids,” he said.
Beachwood’s large number of suspensions, Peters said, was because the skirmish happened near his team’s sideline. A number of players left the players’ box, which caused them to be automatically ejected. Many, Peters said, were pulling players apart and trying to stop the fight.
“Our kids messed up when they came out of the box,” Peters said. “It’s mostly our kids who came off the bench (who are suspended).”
Harvey enters this week’s game against Hawken with an 0-8 record. Conversely, Beachwood is 6-2 and No. 10 in this week’s Division V, Region 17 computer points ratings.
With two more wins, Beachwood could qualify for postseason play. That journey just got more difficult with said suspensions.
“We’re having a really nice season, and these next two games are critical games,” Peters said. “We are very disappointed this occurred. We expect way more out of our players to make wiser decisions, especially when it comes to retaliation. We hope this serves as a learning experience going forward.”