Cramping controversy highlights a night of high school football madness
Nobody knows why cramps really happen, but Friday night’s Gardena Serra-Sierra Canyon high school football game took the issue to an unprecedented level.
Serra players kept cramping on defense, repeatedly slowing down Sierra Canyon’s up-tempo offense. By the end of the third quarter, Sierra Canyon coach Jon Ellinghouse had seen enough. His 11 offensive players, at his direction, simultaneously went to the ground and engaged in fake cramping.
That caused an enraged Serra coach Scott Altenberg to go on the field and be held back by others. Officials halted the game briefly and called 15-yard penalties on Sierra Canyon and Serra.
Ellinghouse said after his team’s 30-0 victory that he was frustrated with the repeated game stoppages and in hindsight, regrets having his players engage in the fake cramps.
Altenberg said he was never angrier in 27 years of coaching. He denied his team was faking cramps to influence the game. “I’m not that kind of coach,” he said.
It wasn’t the only controversy on Friday night. Salesian scored 91 points to beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart 91-13. It was 84-7 at halftime.
Salesian coach Anthony Atkins said he started substituting in the first quarter. There was no running clock until the third quarter. Cantwell-Sacred Heart apparently didn’t ask for a running clock in the first half.
In a text message, Atkins said, “I went back and watched the film just to make sure there wasn’t any malice or that it didn’t look like we were trying to run up the score. Honestly, there was nothing more we could have done short of sitting our guys for the entire game.”
The Mira Costa-Lawndale game was halted with Mira Costa ahead 14-0 in the first quarter because of a security threat at Mira Costa after a bullet was discovered on campus. Also canceled was a girls’ volleyball tournament.
In a developing story, standout quarterback Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park was injured in a game against Santa Barbara and left in the second half. Smigiel, who has committed to Michigan, was expected to get an MRI exam on a knee on Saturday.
