College Park administrators are investigating allegations of “cheap shots” and “dirty play” made by an opposing team after a North Coast Section playoff football game over the weekend, a school district official told the Bay Area News Group on Monday.
Mt. Diablo Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark wrote in an email that College Park administrators are watching the film of the Pleasant Hill school’s 41-15 loss to Windsor on Friday night and will be interviewing coaches, players and spectators.
“They will provide a report to me as well as officials from the North Coast Section in the next couple of days,” Clark wrote.
The game in Windsor ended with under two minutes to play after a College Park defender charged in from the edge and hit a backup quarterback who was taking a knee to run out the clock. The hit gave the quarterback a concussion, Windsor coach DJ Sexton said on Saturday.
The play followed a series of unsportsmanlike and personal-foul penalties that left College Park with a fourth-and-82 before a change of possession late in the fourth quarter.
Clark, as he did on Saturday, sent the quarterback well-wishes and took responsibility for College Park’s actions.
“I did review the clip of the hit against the Windsor QB,” Clark wrote Monday. “I am saddened that the game had to end in that fashion. There is no excuse for that type of behavior on the football field. I am sending positive thoughts to the Windsor QB. I have not received any update on his condition but I hope he is well and can compete Friday night.
“Again, this action does not reflect how our athletes are coached. I take full responsibility for all of our athletic programs and believe that sports are needed now more than ever.”
Sexton told the Bay Area News Group on Saturday that the quarterback “is pretty concussed and doesn’t understand why that play happened. He’s a really good kid. He’s already saying the other guy didn’t mean to do it. He’s forgiven him. It was just an accident.
“He’s one of the best kids on our team as far as that. It’s really hard for our team right now to see that happen. He’s definitely dazed. He showed up this morning at film and didn’t look the same.”
Windsor will play host to American Canyon on Friday in the semifinals of the NCS Division III playoffs.
College Park’s season is over.
Friday’s game was College Park coach Travis Raciti’s first since he served a two-game suspension levied by Clark in the aftermath of the team’s 84-0 victory over Ygnacio Valley.
Raciti has not returned messages left by the Bay Area News Group.
Sexton said he was shocked by what unfolded on the field against his team, saying, “I have never in my life, in 16 years of coaching football and 20 years prior to that playing football, seen so many flags in a game, so many cheap shots, so many dirty plays.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com