SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Boys Varsity Soccer Bluffton HS banned from 2009 playoffs ...

Thanks soccer2103,

I apologize if I came too strong, but the comments were just too far off base. It's a hard job and we all have our opinions - I wanted both sides to be represented. I've heard so many complaints about football over the years by people who are uneducated in the matter. Same goes for AD's. They sacrifice more than the average coach and I've got respect for them.

AD's are kinda like high school soccer coaches. It's easy for people to make generalizations about them based on a few experiences, but when it comes down to it, it's really the quality and attitude of the individual that determines how well the "big job" gets done.

Yeah, that's what I meant to say!

Kinda like the ol' football coaches that dis soccer as being a communist sport and for having 'long-haired' guys.

Funny, that Cuba is pretty good at baseball and the definition of communism and before he got in trouble at Carolina, Stephen Garcia had some purrty hair too!

The league's reaction to this, in the first week of football, should be telling. From the comments following the article, it appears that coaches were injured and players were arrested.

I am not defending the actions of some Bluffton players, but they seem to pale in comparison to the events at Wilson/Lake City.

http://www.scnow.com/scp/sports/high_sch...r_wilson/13620/

from the article and a reader's response that's right on the mark -

Posted by ( DarkKnight ) on August 29, 2008 at 1:17 pm


Go ahead and cancel the season for both teams and be done with it. Send a signal to every other team in the State, “you fight, you don’t play!”

Sounds like a bunch of thugs being thugs to me. They ought to have to forfeit the rest of their seasons for 'showing out'.

I would certainly like to hear the perspective of Mullins HS Principal Ted Greene, whom is of the Pee Dee brethren of Lake City HS and Wilson HS after the incident Friday night in Florence, S.C.

Quote:

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Bluffton boys soccer team banned from postseason play
http://www.islandpacket.com/sports/local/story/566174.html
Sam McDowell, The Island Packet

Quote:

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An ugly ending to the Bluffton High School soccer team's season in May will cost next year's squad a chance to compete for a state championship.

On Friday, the South Carolina High School League executive committee upheld commissioner Jerome Singleton's ruling to ban the Bluffton boys from postseason play in 2009 because of an incident that took place in a season-ending playoff loss on May 6.

With the Bobcats trailing 4-2 to Airport High School in that contest, Bluffton's J.P. Sandoval received a red card with time winding down on the Bobcats' season. His teammate, Erick Velez, responded by shoving the center referee, effectively ending the game.

Bluffton athletics director Dave Adams received news Monday that the team would be banned from participating in postseason play, a decision he immediately appealed to the executive committee.

Adams argued that the school's punishment -- which included a suspension for Velez -- was strict enough, and therefore no additional penalties were necessary.

The executive committee disagreed, denying the appeal on Friday.

"We have more problems in soccer than any other sport," Ted Greene told the (Columbia) State on Friday. Greene, the principal at Mullins High School, is an executive committee member. "We have got to send a strong message."

Adams said Velez is no longer at Bluffton High School, and that he won't be a part of the Bobcats soccer team next season. But that didn't affect the committee's ruling Friday.

"It's unfair to hold the rest of the team responsible," Adams said. "But it's a life lesson. If you are part of a team, you have to pay the consequences of the team. ... I just hate it for the seniors."

Bluffton still will play its full slate of regular season games next spring. And it will be allowed a chance to win the Region 7-AAA championship, a title claimed by Hilton Head Island High School last season.

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I wonder if they will be banned from future games, unfortunately it does not say that players were ejected. Therefore it is likely that they will play nevertheless.

I would like to be in that discussion...

Lake City/Wilson placed on probation

By STEVE WISEMAN - swiseman@thestate.com

For the second consecutive year, the Class 3A football champion will not be allowed to defend its title.

Wilson High, which beat Chester in the 2007 final, and Lake City were each fined and placed on one year of probation by the S.C. High School League on Wednesday for fighting following their game last week.

SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton, who made the ruling, said neither team will be allowed to compete for their respective region championships or compete the playoffs.

Singleton also said some players were suspended, although he declined to say who, how many or for how long.

“That’s under the privacy of the kids,” he said.

The incident took place just as the final seconds ticked off in Lake City’s 19-12 victory against Wilson last Thursday. SCHSL officials spoke with representatives from both schools and reviewed videotape of the brawl, which reportedly lasted around five minutes.

The decision means the 3A title race is wide open, just as it was last season when 2006 champion Blythewood was banned from the playoffs for violating league practice guidelines.

The teams will see their seasons end with their Oct. 31 regular-season finales unless they appeal the ruling to the Executive Committee and have the penalties reduced.

Reach Wiseman at 803-771-8472