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The 2017 football season officially ended for Clear Spring and Williamsport on Wednesday in less-than-conventional fashion.
The Blazers will forfeit tonight’s scheduled season finale at Williamsport because they will be without much of their varsity roster after a series of ejections put an early end to last Friday’s loss to Catoctin.
Eric Michael, Washington County’s supervisor of athletics, officially announced the decision on Thursday after a three-day investigation of a post-play incident that escalated to the point that officials ejected half of Clear Spring’s roster for leaving the sideline.
“The whole thing was over quickly,” Michael said.
The incident was quick, but the aftermath wasn’t.
Catoctin was awarded a 34-7 victory after last Friday’s game ended with 11:20 remaining because of the ejections. The incident left Clear Spring with only 10 eligible players — those who were on the field during the play in question — which forced the officials to call an end to the game.
Clear Spring will forfeit because of a county rule which mandates that any player who is ejected is ineligible to participate in the team’s following game. Thus, the Blazers will not have enough players to field a team, which was originally announced on Tuesday.
“This isn’t happening because of a fight,” Michael said. “It’s because players left the bench area. (The game ejection) is a rule in the national federation rule book. We have the rule in the (Central Maryland Conference) and then in Washington County as a deterrent, not because we think every player leaving the bench is going in to fight. It’s just because they left the players’ box.
“It is a rule that is there all the time. It’s just unfortunate that we have to use it in Week 10, but we need to be consistent as we would if it happened any other time. We have to be consistent in the way the rule is applied.”
Later Tuesday, the actions were put on hold. Through an appeal process, it was proven that one of Clear Spring’s players had the ejection revoked because he was not part of the game-ending sequence and he was reinstated.
But the Blazers had lost a player because of injury, which put them back to 10 able players. Clear Spring considered elevating junior varsity players to the varsity, but declined, fearing injuries.
The Blazers finish with a 1-9 record.
Clear Spring’s forfeit ends up being a blow to Williamsport’s season, too. The Wildcats were scheduled to celebrate Senior Day tonight.
The lack of a game put plans to recognize senior players, band members and cheerleaders in jeopardy. Williamsport, now 7-3, was eliminated from playoff contention in last week’s 7-6 loss to Boonsboro.
Williamsport will fill the void with a senior celebration tonight. Festivities are scheduled to start at 6:45 with the introduction of senior football players and their parents. The football team will play a Blue-White scrimmage with band and cheerleading performances and recognition at halftime. The second half of the scrimmage will be used as a senior showcase.
“Obviously, this is one of the unfortunate consequences with this situation,” Michael said. “Williamsport will still have a program to honor their seniors. Principal (Heath) Wilcox and (athletic director Emily Crabtree) have done a great job to address the situation. The kids will get on their home field one last time and make the most of it.”
Michael’s initial investigation included game film, officials’ game reports and even a security photo, all used to determine what exactly happened. Reports and rumors of an all-out brawl had circulated.
“It looked like an act of frustration,” Michael said. “It was a quick 30 seconds.”
According to Michael, a Clear Spring defender was blocked hard by a pair of Catoctin players. In the video, the Clear Spring player is seen running after the Cougars as they returned to their huddle, where the video stops.
“That’s when we started using the officials’ reports,” Michael said. “They are pretty clear because they were there on the scene.”
Officials stated that they were trying to defuse the action because the Clear Spring player was poised to throw a punch. Then suddenly players were surrounding the area.
Michael said he can only assume that a coach went on the field to help get his player away from the situation. For whatever reason, the team left the sideline.
Michael said there wasn’t any filmed proof, but a security photo showed Clear Spring’s players on the field.
“The one player was called for a personal foul and was ejected while the other players were disqualified for leaving the bench,” Michael said. “It became simple math. The officials looked up and there was no one on the sideline. There were only 10 players left, so they had to stop the game.”
No Catoctin players were ejected in the incident.
Tonight’s game was cancelled not only because of the national, state and county rules, but in the name of safety.
“Clear Spring doesn’t have a lot of players,” Michael said. “Football is a collision sport. You can’t just put 11 players out there to play the game.”
Still, there are other implications that come with the decision.
“It’s unfortunate,” Michael said. “Williamsport had a good season, but if you are playing and you have one more game on the schedule, you want to go out and play it.
“But in this situation, you have to look beyond today and next week. We need to be able to do the same things and apply the rules the same way if there is a next time it happens. This sucks because of when it happened, but it’s also a learning experience.”
The 2017 football season officially ended for Clear Spring and Williamsport on Wednesday in less-than-conventional fashion.
The Blazers will forfeit tonight’s scheduled season finale at Williamsport because they will be without much of their varsity roster after a series of ejections put an early end to last Friday’s loss to Catoctin.
Eric Michael, Washington County’s supervisor of athletics, officially announced the decision on Thursday after a three-day investigation of a post-play incident that escalated to the point that officials ejected half of Clear Spring’s roster for leaving the sideline.
“The whole thing was over quickly,” Michael said.
The incident was quick, but the aftermath wasn’t.
Catoctin was awarded a 34-7 victory after last Friday’s game ended with 11:20 remaining because of the ejections. The incident left Clear Spring with only 10 eligible players — those who were on the field during the play in question — which forced the officials to call an end to the game.
Clear Spring will forfeit because of a county rule which mandates that any player who is ejected is ineligible to participate in the team’s following game. Thus, the Blazers will not have enough players to field a team, which was originally announced on Tuesday.
“This isn’t happening because of a fight,” Michael said. “It’s because players left the bench area. (The game ejection) is a rule in the national federation rule book. We have the rule in the (Central Maryland Conference) and then in Washington County as a deterrent, not because we think every player leaving the bench is going in to fight. It’s just because they left the players’ box.
“It is a rule that is there all the time. It’s just unfortunate that we have to use it in Week 10, but we need to be consistent as we would if it happened any other time. We have to be consistent in the way the rule is applied.”
Later Tuesday, the actions were put on hold. Through an appeal process, it was proven that one of Clear Spring’s players had the ejection revoked because he was not part of the game-ending sequence and he was reinstated.
But the Blazers had lost a player because of injury, which put them back to 10 able players. Clear Spring considered elevating junior varsity players to the varsity, but declined, fearing injuries.
The Blazers finish with a 1-9 record.
Clear Spring’s forfeit ends up being a blow to Williamsport’s season, too. The Wildcats were scheduled to celebrate Senior Day tonight.
The lack of a game put plans to recognize senior players, band members and cheerleaders in jeopardy. Williamsport, now 7-3, was eliminated from playoff contention in last week’s 7-6 loss to Boonsboro.
Williamsport will fill the void with a senior celebration tonight. Festivities are scheduled to start at 6:45 with the introduction of senior football players and their parents. The football team will play a Blue-White scrimmage with band and cheerleading performances and recognition at halftime. The second half of the scrimmage will be used as a senior showcase.
“Obviously, this is one of the unfortunate consequences with this situation,” Michael said. “Williamsport will still have a program to honor their seniors. Principal (Heath) Wilcox and (athletic director Emily Crabtree) have done a great job to address the situation. The kids will get on their home field one last time and make the most of it.”
Michael’s initial investigation included game film, officials’ game reports and even a security photo, all used to determine what exactly happened. Reports and rumors of an all-out brawl had circulated.
“It looked like an act of frustration,” Michael said. “It was a quick 30 seconds.”
According to Michael, a Clear Spring defender was blocked hard by a pair of Catoctin players. In the video, the Clear Spring player is seen running after the Cougars as they returned to their huddle, where the video stops.
“That’s when we started using the officials’ reports,” Michael said. “They are pretty clear because they were there on the scene.”
Officials stated that they were trying to defuse the action because the Clear Spring player was poised to throw a punch. Then suddenly players were surrounding the area.
Michael said he can only assume that a coach went on the field to help get his player away from the situation. For whatever reason, the team left the sideline.
Michael said there wasn’t any filmed proof, but a security photo showed Clear Spring’s players on the field.
“The one player was called for a personal foul and was ejected while the other players were disqualified for leaving the bench,” Michael said. “It became simple math. The officials looked up and there was no one on the sideline. There were only 10 players left, so they had to stop the game.”
No Catoctin players were ejected in the incident.
Tonight’s game was cancelled not only because of the national, state and county rules, but in the name of safety.
“Clear Spring doesn’t have a lot of players,” Michael said. “Football is a collision sport. You can’t just put 11 players out there to play the game.”
Still, there are other implications that come with the decision.
“It’s unfortunate,” Michael said. “Williamsport had a good season, but if you are playing and you have one more game on the schedule, you want to go out and play it.
“But in this situation, you have to look beyond today and next week. We need to be able to do the same things and apply the rules the same way if there is a next time it happens. This sucks because of when it happened, but it’s also a learning experience.”
