Many of you have probably read something or seen a news clip pertaining to a skirmish that occurred during our game with Wayne County this past Friday. Of course, this incident looks extremely bad and certainly has no place in high school football. I do not, and Wayne County Head Coach Shawn Thompson does not, condone fighting. We both teach our players to be intense, but to do so within the boundaries of the game.

This is part of what makes the Garrard/Wayne series exciting. Four of the past five games in this series have come down to the last five minutes of the game, or even overtime before being decided. They are always hard-hitting and hard fought games that are played clean. Our game Friday night was no exception besides the 15 seconds of the skirmish. What news reports won’t show or tell you is that previous to the skirmish there were no late hits, no players shoving each other after the play, etc. After the skirmish players from both schools could be seen helping each other off of the ground, giving each other fives, and even some shaking hands with officials.

The games between Garrard and Wayne have always been clean, competitive games (as I was quoted saying in the pre-game article for this game in the Advocate). The 15 seconds of the skirmish were an aberration and not indicative of how either team plays. There were a couple of players from each team who let their emotions get the best of them and acted in a way that deservingly caused them to be ejected from the game. That was it. The rest of the way the kids went back to playing good, clean, hard-hitting football; and after the game both teams shook hands with no issues.

To me, the worst thing about this situation is that people will think of this incident when they think of the Garrard/Wayne series and not of the many clean, competitive games that we have had.

Now, this story was ultimately magnified because a fan came out onto the field and made contact with a player. That is something that obviously should never happen.

However, the kids (from both schools) responded well after this and the skirmish will hold no bearing when we play Wayne again in the first round of the playoffs. I still have great respect for Coach Thompson and the Wayne County players and look forward to another great game in the first round of the playoffs.

NOTE: Thanks to the Advocate-Messenger and Larry Vaught I was able to attend the UK/Florida game with a press pass. In the next couple of days I will write blog entries dealing with that experience. One will concern the game itself and the other will let readers know a little more about my specific experiences as a ‘media member for a day.’ I had a great time and look forward to writing those entries.