... - Sports - Preps - Clover

Tuesday, Sep. 16, 2008

Coaches, administrators address end-of-game tempers

Clover football coach Jet Turner put a quick end to what had been an ugly and heated final 10 minutes of his team's 35-7 loss to the South Pointe Stallions last Friday.

South Pointe's players were lining up to shake hands with the Blue Eagles after the game, but Turner sent his players the other way.

"We didn't feel like the way tempers were, that the kids should get out there and something happen to affect everybody," Turner said. "We wanted to protect the kids on both teams because tempers were at a boiling point.

"There was no reason to chance anything bad happening. It was not an unsportsmanlike thing that we didn't shake hands. I met at midfield with (South Pointe) coach (Bobby) Carroll and told him what we were doing. I felt it was the smart thing to do since tempers were boiling over."

Several penalty flags were thrown and tempers flared on both sides of the field in the final quarter.

According to play-by-play kept by a Herald reporter during the game, South Pointe was whistled for six personal fouls in the fourth quarter and Clover two in the second half. South Pointe had 11 penalties for 129 yards and Clover six for 55 yards in the game.

"It was an emotional game, and it got out of hand," Turner said. "It is what it is and we will move forward. I want to put it behind us and move on."

The officials had to stop the game at one point so the coaches could calm down players. South Pointe tailback Devin Wherry was ejected after being tackled, coming out of the pile and retaliating after having his helmet pulled off.

Carroll submitted a report on Wherry's ejection to the South Carolina High School League, which will rule if Wherry has to sit out Friday's game against Fort Mill.

"The punishment depends on what the infraction is; how the officials wrote it up and sent it to us," said Roger Hazel, SCHSL assistant executive director. "Kicking constitutes sitting out a game for sure, and I don't know if that's the case here. You have to study the film and make a decision, and that will come from Bruce Hulion, who oversees our officials."

Meanwhile, Carroll was going to meet with the players prior to Monday's practice to talk about what happened.

Carroll said he and his staff stress doing things right on and off the field, to respect others and to do well in class.

"We have consequences for those who make the wrong decisions," Carroll said. "Jet Turner is a great football coach and has a great football team. We respect them, and we don't encourage or solicit illegal play. We stress sportsmanship. What people fail to realize is that football is a collision sport."

Carroll said at one point he asked the official on his side of the field to stop play and let the coaches talk to their players. Carroll said he told his players to calm down.

South Pointe athletics director Mike Drummond met with Carroll on Monday.

"Coach Carroll is going to address players before practice and stress sportsmanship and that our kids keep cool heads and play our game," said Drummond, who watched the game from the stands. "I felt the game got out of control in the final quarter because it was so competitive. It was unfortunate it had to end that way, and we will make sure it doesn't happen again."

Turner said it was a physical game.

Clover's Dominique Phillips and Aukeem Rush were taken to Piedmont Medical Center after the game because of injuries, and fullback Ricky Moore suffered a concussion. Turner said he will know later in the week if any of them will be able to play Friday.

The hype for the game mushroomed last week when Clover won to go 3-0 and South Pointe improved to 2-0. South Pointe was No. 4 and Clover No. 6 in the state rankings.

Clover had won the first two meetings between the two, 6-3 and 10-7, and won the Class AAAA Division II state championship last season. South Pointe is considered a favorite to win the state title this year.

By kickoff, emotions on both sides were sky high.

Carroll believes the barrage of flags late in the game came after Stallions quarterback Stephon Gilmore was scrambling and ran out of bounds. A South Pointe player blocked a Clover player under the chin, knocking his helmet off. The South Pointe player drew two penalties for a late hit and excessive celebration.

Carroll said the player who drew the penalty didn't know Gilmore had run out of bounds.

"It was a heated game, no bench-clearing thing," Carroll said. "A lot of it was blown out of proportion. The flag-fest started after that hit in the second half."

Carroll Hester, Clover's athletics director, said there was no question that the hit in front of the Blue Eagles' bench heated up the game. But, he added, Carroll and his staff were too far away on the other side of the field to see exactly what took place.

"There were a couple of hits in the fourth quarter by both teams that led to Jet's decision not to shake hands after the game," Hester said. "Our coaches work on what to do after a game, and with this one being so heated, the decision he made was the right one.

"Coach Carroll and Jet talked Monday morning, and I think Jet feels a lot better today than he did Friday night. It was one of those games that heated up in the last 10 minutes that caused Jet to make a decision. He had it down pat."