{"id":2719,"date":"2014-11-08T14:29:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T19:29:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gridironstuds.com\/blog\/?p=2719"},"modified":"2014-11-08T16:15:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T21:15:55","slug":"too-much-foul-or-too-much-fire-defending-florida-state-champion-champagnat-catholic-forfeits-game-in-2nd-quarter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/too-much-foul-or-too-much-fire-defending-florida-state-champion-champagnat-catholic-forfeits-game-in-2nd-quarter\/","title":{"rendered":"Too Much Foul or Too Much Fire? Defending Florida State Champion Champagnat Catholic Forfeits Game in 2nd Quarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Forfeits happen in high school football more often than people care to admit. \u00a0Often times, \u00a0teams run into situations that are out of their control with regards to injuries, transportation and a host of other issues that can take place along the way of planning a high school football contest. \u00a0Rarely do you see one team call it quits during the contest. \u00a0That was the case in Bradenton, Florida on Friday Night as defending Florida State 2A champion Champagnat Catholic exited the field with six minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter of their game vs. IMG. \u00a0The reaction by the Twitterverse was not kind in the moments after this news was learned.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

Immediate accusations of “quitting” were tossed Champagnat’s way as many felt that the lopsided score early in the game led to the move to forfeit and board the buses. \u00a0Champagnat says this is not the case. \u00a0Champagnat defensive coordinator Jon Drummond issued the following statement when questioned about the Lion’s early exit from the contest:<\/p>\n

STATEMENT FROM DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR JON DRUMMOND:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We felt our players were at risk for physical harm according to extra curricular fouls the referees were letting go. There were several incidents on the field during game play that flags for unsportsmanlike penalties should have been called. Only one incident was flagged and that was for excessive celebration by IMG. Other incidents of punches and play after the whistle were noted by our sideline referee but not called. After 2 IMG players attacked one of our players at the play ending the last play I felt the correct decision should be end the game. The other team is not regulated by the FHSAA and does not follow their regulations. IMG also was in their last game and their players and program had nothing to lose for an ejection, fighting, and or fines. In my opinion that was the cause of their reckless play in the field<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If indeed true, these are legitimate concerns for a coaching staff to consider as safety for the athletes is the primary concern. \u00a0However, \u00a0previous activity by Champagnat this season casts doubts on the statement issued by the Lions.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Champagnat, earlier this season,\u00a0backed out of a\u00a0scheduled game vs. Jacksonville Trinity Catholic, \u00a0the State of Florida defending 3A champs leaving them scrambling for a replacement. \u00a0Champagnat was also coming off of a 70-49 defeat last week to upstart Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach in which they lost their quarterback Kato Nelson to concussion. \u00a0There are enough reasons to be suspicious of Champagnat’s explanation.<\/p>\n

With that said, \u00a0Drummond’s statement does raise some important issues as well. \u00a0IMG is not a state regulated team as they are not a member of nor sanctioned by the state governing body Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA). \u00a0Could tempers and intensity have risen to the level of foul play or was Champagnat simply overmatched and not game for being mortally embarrassed. \u00a0I guess it’s left for you to decide.<\/p>\n

ADDENDUM:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“According to Joshua Wilson from FloridaHSFootball.com, IMG Academy is a member of the FHSAA as an independent. This means they are governed by the state’s governing body and subject to all punishments and regulations. A visit to the FHSAA’s website does, in deed, indicate that IMG is a member as an independent. That information can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forfeits happen in high school football more often than people care to admit. \u00a0Often times, \u00a0teams run into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gridironstuds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}