Columnist Adam Candee: Mandatory suspension wrong in this case

Adam Candee

Friday, Nov. 15, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

Adam Candee covers high school sports for the Sun. Reach him at (702) 259-4085 or by e-mail at candee@lasvegassun.com.

TODAY'S PREP FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

All kickoffs at 7 p.m.

Few think Palo Verde senior linebacker Danny Scolari should have to sit out tonight's playoff game against Centennial, myself included. Rules being rules, though, Scolari will not be on the field for the Panthers.

Instead, Scolari will be serving a mandatory one-game suspension for being ejected from last week's 39-0 victory over Durango in the Sunset Region semifinals.

"This kid was a victim, and I feel bad," said Marc Ratner, commissioner of the Southern Nevada Officials Association.

The ejections of Scolari and a Durango player capped a very chippy game, a fact not helped by the one-sided score. When Palo Verde scored its final touchdown in the fourth quarter, after a handful of personal foul calls against the Blazers and the ejection of a Durango coach, officials called in the captains of both teams and warned them that any more trash talk or taunting would result in more ejections.

Palo Verde coach Darwin Rost points out that the officials never informed the coaches of their warning, and that is his concern. Talking to captains is a traditional and ceremonial way of addressing the problem, but at the high school level, discipline eminates from the head coach.

"I have no problem with the decision," Rost said. "What I have a hard time with is that the officials never came over and talked to me."

A few plays later, Scolari and a Durango lineman got involved in an exchange of words and gestures, according to Ratner's report from game officials. The umpire flagged both players for unsportsmanlike conduct and ejected them as well.

When the officials conferred with the coaches after the ejections, Rost said that even Durango coach John Mausbach concurred that Scolari did not deserve to be ejected. An appeal to the SNOA of Scolari's suspension was denied, and Ratner said a legitimate ejection has not been overturned during his tenure.

OK, the rules are what they are, so Scolari sits out for, as Rost puts it, "some (bogus) thing that the refs make up." I can't argue with the rule -- there needs to be a deterrent attached to being ejected.

The Durango player will sit out the first game of next season. Given the circumstances -- essentially that no one feels Scolari should be out this week -- this is not exactly equal justice.

The primary responsibility of any game official is to ensure the safety of the athletes on the field, so it is hard to fault the referees for trying to do just that when it became apparent that the game was getting out of hand. As an official myself, I respect the obligation.

At the same time, there is an increased significance attached to ejecting a player in the playoffs, meaning that officials must take extra care to ensure that the punishment truly fits the crime.

Scolari appears to be serving a 20-year sentence for pocketing some gum from 7-Eleven.