Coalfield High School has suspended eight football players and head coach Keith Henry for Friday’s Class 1A quarterfinal home game against South Pittsburg.
It is a self-imposed punishment following last week’s on-field brawl that broke out in the first half of Coalfield’s game against Lookout Valley. With the game tied at 7 early in the second quarter, Lookout Valley quarterback Vann Scribner was met by several Coalfield defenders on a keeper and was pushed back. Tempers flared, several players threw punches and the fight escalated as Coalfield players rushed onto the field from the sideline.
Three players from each team were ejected from the game, including Coalfield senior tailback Allen Seiber, a 1,000-yard rusher. After reviewing video of the fight with TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress, Coalfield officials decided that in addition to the three players who were ejected, five other players and a manager who were involved in the fight must sit out the game and Coach Henry is suspended for failing to maintain control along the sideline.
Per TSSAA rule, any player ejected from a football game is required to sit out the following game. When players leave their sideline to participate in a fight, the school will be fined a minimum of $250. Also in addition to sitting out Friday’s game, the non-senior players will be suspended for the first five games of next season. That, too, was a punishment handed down by Coalfield administrators.
“Coalfield set the penalty, and we agreed upon it,” Childress said Wednesday. “I appreciate the way that their administration handled this situation. It sets the standard for how these things need to be handled.”