Gulf has no plans to appeal FHSAA suspensions, fines handed out for role in Tuesday’s brawl

Posted Jan 11, 2012 by Mike Camunas

Updated Jan 11, 2012 at 11:26 PM

Gulf boys soccer coach Steve Emerson is still digesting it all.

Just 24 hours after playing Fivay to a scoreless draw that ended in a benches-clearing brawl, the Buccaneers were handed a six-game suspension to senior captain and leading goal scorer Travis Jehs and a game suspension to three other players. And with all that, Emerson is still sorting through the day-after wreckage.

“It’s been a whirlwind, for sure,” Emerson told the Tampa Tribune on Wednesday evening. “There isn’t really anything good that came from this, though. It’s just been a mess.”

Emerson says the school has no plans to appeal the suspension handed to Jehs and his fellow players, not the three $100 fines to the school for the players leaving the bench. In the ruckus, Fivay player Courtland Harrison was also given a six-game suspension, with the ruling to his and Jehs suspension was because of a “forceful push”, according to FHSAA.

“We don’t have any plans, and I have to look at the whole thing as I wonder why more Fivay players weren’t suspended as well, but we still have to look over just what happened,” Emerson said. “I don’t condone or approve what happend or of Travis’ actions. They’re not excused, and he’ll be the first person to not excuse them. It wasn’t the best decision, and he knows it.”

Emotions ran high before and during the game as the two teams were playing for the district tournament’s top seed in Class 3A, District 8. However, after the draw, Fivay is now 8-1-2 in district play, while the Buccaneers are 7-2-1. Both have one district game left — Anclote for Fivay and River Ridge for Gulf — and if both teams win, Fivay would lock up the No. 1 seed.

“This game had a lot of emotion from start to finish, obviously,” Emerson said. “We’re probably locked into the No. 2 seed now, which is OK, but as the players all played at the level they did, it showed on and off the field — the emotions. This isn’t us. This isn’t what I built this Gulf team to be or represent and it’s unlike both teams because many of them are friends. It’s just a situation where the emotions got the best of everyone, and you can’t let that happen during the game.”

Correspondent Mike Camunas can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or follow him on Twitter @MikeCamunasTrib.

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