Spartans and Griffins go head to headpartans Spartans and Griffins go head to headand Griffins go head to head
BY RYAN LEGER
RLEGER@HENDERSONDISPATCH.COM
The Kerr-Vance Academy boys’ soccer team came away with a 5-1 victory over visiting Oxford Prep Tuesday evening, but unfortunately the contest will be defined more by what happened off the pitch than on it.
The controversy began about two minutes into the match when Griffins’ goaltender Austin West got kicked in the face by a Spartans’ player sliding after the ball. There was no call made by the referee even though West had to leave the game for a while, and the game began to get more and more physical from that point forward.
About five minutes after Spartans’ eighth-grader Christopher Steg found the back of the net on an assist from Evan McGhee to give Kerr-Vance a 1-0 advantage, the tension between the two squads reached its boiling point. With 16:52 left in the first half, Spartans’ junior Gabriel Carr slid into Oxford Prep’s Demari Oliver along the sideline, which resulted in a foul. The two players immediately began to have words, however, and in the blink of an eye a fight broke out between both teams near the Griffins’ bench where the initial foul occurred.
After gaining control of the situation, the referees handed out red cards for violent conduct to five players. Oxford Prep’sand Austin West were all ejected from the game, along with Kerr- Vance’s Gabriel Carr and Evan McGhee. All five players will face a suspension of at least one game for receiving a red card.
When it was all said and done, the Griffins were forced to play with eight guys the rest of the game, while Kerr-
Vance had a one-man advantage with nine players on the pitch.
The ejections really opened up the field and both teams had plenty of scoring chances, but the Spartans were able to capitalize with the extra player. Charlie Averette tapped the ball over the head of the Griffins’ backup goaltender, Nelson Fuentes, on an assist from Max Perry with under a minute left in the first half to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead
at the break.
The Griffins made things interesting when Ethan Collins booted the ball past Spartans’ goaltender Cam Pritchett with 32:08 left in the match to cut Kerr- Vance’s lead down to a single goal. The Spartans quickly snatched back the momentum, however, as Christopher Steg dribbled through multiple Griffins’ defenders and ripped a beautiful shot
into the corner of the net to take a 3-1 lead just five minutes later.
Ker r-Vance added two more goals after Fuentes left the game, with what the Oxford Prep coaching staff believed to be a broken collarbone, and thirdstring goaltender Drew Crumpler was forced into action.
The game was much less physical after the altercation in the first half. Spartans’ co-captain Drew Griggs, who helped carry Oxford Prep’s Whitt Daniel off the field after Daniel suffered an ankle injury in the second half, said
he wasn’t happy with the part his team played in the fight and that the incident was completely unacceptable.
“I’m a captain for my team, and I realize that not only on the field, but in things like what happened today with the fight, it’s unacceptable and I got to take ownership for my team,” Griggs said. “As a captain, I’m trying not only to talk, but show my actions. If someone’s hurt, than help them up. Being a captain, it’s not only leading your team to victory, but it’s also leading your team in situations when things are going wrong. You gotta tell your guys that an incident like that is unacceptable and it can’t happen again. I really think it was an isolated incident, the game wasclean otherwise, but we can’t let incidents like that define our team.”
Griffins’ head coach Larry Allen was also very unhappy with what happened Tuesday, particularly the officiating.
“Basically the best I can tell you is that that was the most poorly officiated game I’ve ever seen,” Allen said. “In the first two minutes of the game, my keeper gets kicked in the face, has a goose egg on his face and there’s no whistle. My replacement keeper’s got a broke collarbone and we don’t get no whistle. They play the dirtiest
game I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Allen said a Kerr-Vance player kicked one of his players down low, which led his player tosay something. He said
his player was defending himself when the fight broke out. “There’s a difference between playing physical
and playing dirty, and that’s the way they played: dirty,” Allen said.
The Spartans will return to action when they host Henderson Collegiate Thursday evening, while Oxford Prep gets a rest until traveling to face KIPP Pride on Tuesday night.
BY RYAN LEGER
RLEGER@HENDERSONDISPATCH.COM
The Kerr-Vance Academy boys’ soccer team came away with a 5-1 victory over visiting Oxford Prep Tuesday evening, but unfortunately the contest will be defined more by what happened off the pitch than on it.
The controversy began about two minutes into the match when Griffins’ goaltender Austin West got kicked in the face by a Spartans’ player sliding after the ball. There was no call made by the referee even though West had to leave the game for a while, and the game began to get more and more physical from that point forward.
About five minutes after Spartans’ eighth-grader Christopher Steg found the back of the net on an assist from Evan McGhee to give Kerr-Vance a 1-0 advantage, the tension between the two squads reached its boiling point. With 16:52 left in the first half, Spartans’ junior Gabriel Carr slid into Oxford Prep’s Demari Oliver along the sideline, which resulted in a foul. The two players immediately began to have words, however, and in the blink of an eye a fight broke out between both teams near the Griffins’ bench where the initial foul occurred.
After gaining control of the situation, the referees handed out red cards for violent conduct to five players. Oxford Prep’sand Austin West were all ejected from the game, along with Kerr- Vance’s Gabriel Carr and Evan McGhee. All five players will face a suspension of at least one game for receiving a red card.
When it was all said and done, the Griffins were forced to play with eight guys the rest of the game, while Kerr-
Vance had a one-man advantage with nine players on the pitch.
The ejections really opened up the field and both teams had plenty of scoring chances, but the Spartans were able to capitalize with the extra player. Charlie Averette tapped the ball over the head of the Griffins’ backup goaltender, Nelson Fuentes, on an assist from Max Perry with under a minute left in the first half to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead
at the break.
The Griffins made things interesting when Ethan Collins booted the ball past Spartans’ goaltender Cam Pritchett with 32:08 left in the match to cut Kerr- Vance’s lead down to a single goal. The Spartans quickly snatched back the momentum, however, as Christopher Steg dribbled through multiple Griffins’ defenders and ripped a beautiful shot
into the corner of the net to take a 3-1 lead just five minutes later.
Ker r-Vance added two more goals after Fuentes left the game, with what the Oxford Prep coaching staff believed to be a broken collarbone, and thirdstring goaltender Drew Crumpler was forced into action.
The game was much less physical after the altercation in the first half. Spartans’ co-captain Drew Griggs, who helped carry Oxford Prep’s Whitt Daniel off the field after Daniel suffered an ankle injury in the second half, said
he wasn’t happy with the part his team played in the fight and that the incident was completely unacceptable.
“I’m a captain for my team, and I realize that not only on the field, but in things like what happened today with the fight, it’s unacceptable and I got to take ownership for my team,” Griggs said. “As a captain, I’m trying not only to talk, but show my actions. If someone’s hurt, than help them up. Being a captain, it’s not only leading your team to victory, but it’s also leading your team in situations when things are going wrong. You gotta tell your guys that an incident like that is unacceptable and it can’t happen again. I really think it was an isolated incident, the game wasclean otherwise, but we can’t let incidents like that define our team.”
Griffins’ head coach Larry Allen was also very unhappy with what happened Tuesday, particularly the officiating.
“Basically the best I can tell you is that that was the most poorly officiated game I’ve ever seen,” Allen said. “In the first two minutes of the game, my keeper gets kicked in the face, has a goose egg on his face and there’s no whistle. My replacement keeper’s got a broke collarbone and we don’t get no whistle. They play the dirtiest
game I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Allen said a Kerr-Vance player kicked one of his players down low, which led his player tosay something. He said
his player was defending himself when the fight broke out. “There’s a difference between playing physical
and playing dirty, and that’s the way they played: dirty,” Allen said.
The Spartans will return to action when they host Henderson Collegiate Thursday evening, while Oxford Prep gets a rest until traveling to face KIPP Pride on Tuesday night.
