It is amazing to me to see how many people support Lincoln without realizing or ever witnessing what they are about.
Earlier this year, when we played in McClellenville, there was a foul called late in the game where their player received a yellow card but they got a direct kick 22ish yards from goal. Their stands erupted, and a spectator jumped the fence, confronted the referee and tried to attack our players with a miniature baseball bat. A second spectator was allowed to get on the field. The Game Administrator was counting tickets and money at the ticket table. A couple of their high profile players commented several times late in the game that they were going to "pick a random player and mug them". If you do not believe me, I can send you a copy of the game tape. As we exited the stadium after the win, their players and fans shouted profanities at our team and our parents and threw things at our bus. One of the two spectators ejected from the game climbed the fence behind our bus and was beating on the back window of our bus as we were boarding to leave. There was no security in sight- no police officer, no Game Administrator and no Head Coach.
Yes, Lincoln beat us 5-1 and the game was tied 1-1 at the half. The interesting thing is that Lincoln had a non-rostered coach named Ted Rosengarden meet with the team at half time; then he consulted with Coach Hartnett toward the end of half time and then remained on the bench for the first 3-4 minutes of the second half (continuously consulting with Coach Hartnett) before returning to the stands. I was under the assumption that the only people allowed on the bench after the opening whistle are people on the official game roster. Has the SCHSL league changed this rule?
I would also like everyone to know that after the game, instead of shaking hands, many Linclon players had taken their jersyes off and were dangling them in the face of our players shouting "whatcha think about this" while the coaching staff watched, listened and did nothing. Their bus was also tremendously late in leaving and their players were allowed to continuously taunt our parents and fans. If you have wished Lincoln good luck against Chirst Church, then you are endorsing this behavior.
On the other hand, when we beat Christ Church earlier this year, the two teams acted like what should be expected between two teams who battled. We shook hands as coaches, the players shook hands... there were no dirty/cheap fouls or assault comments made towards the end of the match... just like the past several years, the losing team and winning team in the AMHS/CCES game lost and won with dignity... the winning team did not taunt the losing team. i enjoy our games with CCES b/c i know Coach Wilcox has a firm grasp on his program and players. The games are physical and competitive, but no matter what, if either us or CCES gets up on the other, there is a high level of respect between the two teams, and a respect for the game, that I feel is a reflection on Coach Wilcox, Coach Bennage and myself.
