New Castle incident provides wake-up call for other area coaches
Written: Oct 16, 2015
  By Kayleen Cubbal
New Castle News
They've talked about it before at Union High but, this week, Scotties football coach Stacy Robinson knew it was time to bring it up again.
"You have to be prepared," Robinson said. "We all got a wake-up call on that last week."
Robinson and other local coaches are taking their players "back to school" in light of the scuffle prior to the Central Valley-New Castle game last Friday night. The incident eventually resulted in the suspension of 14 players — 13 from New Castle — and two New Castle coaches. Seven Red Hurricane players and head coach Joe Cowart were thrown out of Friday's game on the spot — meaning they have to sit out this Friday's Homecoming game against Ambridge as well — and another six players and assistant coach John Lambo were suspended after administrators viewed the tape. Central Valley suspended one of its players after watching the film.
Central Valley faithful say that the 'Canes came out fighting as the visitors were entering the field. New Castle faithful say that the Warriors are known for stomping on the home team's logo at midfield and the 'Canes were just defending their turf. No matter the case, it was the fight heard around the WPIAL — and beyond.
"We had touched on this before and I don't talk about it a lot because it's not something that you see daily or even weekly, but it was time to revisit it," Robinson said. "So we talked to them this week about it and reminded them you stay on your sideline if some unexpected situation happens. As hard as it is, you can't react."
Robinson has been witness to a few spats in his career.
"I've seen it happen numerous times, it can go from 0 to 100 so fast and sometimes the referees single out a kid in the chaos who hasn't done anything," he said. "That happened with Drew (Robinson's son) a few years back, some kids left the sidelines and I grabbed him and told him not to move, he didn't and the officials said No. 27 was out of the game for running onto the field. They finally straightened it out, but it was one of those chaotic things that could have cost him playing in two games."
At Laurel, coach Brian Cooper said he also revisited the situation.
"Our kids know that if a fight breaks out, if they leave the sideline, it's an automatic ejection," he said. "We reiterated it. We preach all the time about character and how you have to have it on and off the field. Of course, last Friday's incident happened before the game, so that changes things a bit.
"They're kids and there is a lot of emotion in a setting like that. You just have to hope that you've done a good enough job teaching them not to get in a position like that."
"You live and learn," he added. "It is definitely a very good life lesson for all of us."
Shenango coach Mike Commesso said he and his staff also have gone over repercussions.
"We try to keep our kids focused on playing football and not worrying about the other team, no matter what they're doing," he said. "We preach sportsmanship. We really try to stress protecting our team and not being selfish by jeopardizing that.
"I tell the kids, 'you get yourself ejected, then you're dealing with the consequence of missing the next week. And that costs not just you, it costs the team.' "
Terry Verrelli said his Wilmington team has had few incidents in his 38 seasons.
"We get the usual, 'I got a penalty, but he kicked me first.' I tell them, 'I don't care who's kicking, who got the penalty? You did, not the other guy,' " he said. "I tell them, 'we're here to play the game. Look how hard you've worked, why would you even think about throwing that away?' "
(Email: kcubbal@ncnewsonline.com)
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