In which I am almost party to a donnybrook
By David Morrison
High School Sports Reporter
Published: January 30, 2009
Who says private schools don’t know how to throw down?
If you want to read about the Lee-Scott/Glenwood boys’ and girls’ games, you can right now. If you want to read about how a good old fashioned rivalry could have turned into good old fashioned fisticuffs, keep it here.
During the girls’ game (which the Gators won 43-40) Lee-Scott fans were thumping Thundersticks together behind the Glenwood bench, which Gators coach Tim Mayse felt was in violation of the AISA’s rule against bringing artificial noisemakers to a game. He brought this to the officials’ attention and they made them stop. For a little while.
After halftime, the refs got both sides together and talked over the Thunderstick conundrum. The end result was allowing the Warriors’ fans to continue with their noisemaking. They just had to be a certain distance away from the court. And not right behind the Gators’ bench.
“Actually, I’m glad they used them because it served as an inspiration to us,“ Mayse said. “So I appreciate them bringing them. Hope they come back next time with more.“
Gators’ fans responded by finding whatever they could to make noise. I think I saw somebody banging two trash can lids together. This guy was not happy. They also brought out about 100 plastic hand-clapper things for the boys’ game. Where they got them, I don’t know.
But this is all fun and games. Then the boys’ game (which the Warriors won 67-58) started and things got dicey. Four technical fouls and five fan ejections later, people on both sides of the fieldhouse were shouting at each other. Oh, and there were 36 total fouls - one for every 53 seconds. Glenwood’s fan section had to be massaged by Mayse and boys’ coach Dusty Perdue, who returned to his bench to a giant applause from the “Bleacher Creatures.“ Warriors players and coaches gave their fans a lot of soothing hand motions from the bench.
Things came to a head when Lee-Scott’s Shane Corbett (who used to go to Glenwood) and Glenwood’s Deante Thomas started getting “competitive,“ and Corbett was called for a technical. More shouting ensued and the refs looked really overwhelmed. That’s when Lee-Scott coach Chad Prewett called a timeout. Because everyone needed a breather.
“We told our kids to show some poise,“ Prewett said. “I think we did the last minute or so, but it kind of got haywire there for a while.“
All in all, cooler heads prevailed and the players did admirably amongst the tumult and the shouting. Everyone shook hands and made up after the game, and we can only assume the peace between Lee-Scott and Glenwood will last for another 1,000 years. Or at least until they probably meet again at the Region tournament at Huntingdon next week.
OH! And there was good rhythmic chanting had by all. That’s one of the best parts of rivalry games. Lee-Scott answered Glenwood’s repeated choruses of “You Can’t Do That,“ (a classic), with “We Just Did.“ Glenwood started up a “Get Your Own Chants,“ verse when they felt as if the Warriors were infringing on their intellectual properties. And one Glenwood fan got a cheerleader’s cone and used it to inform one of the refs that his mother didn’t love him. That was just mean.
(Honorable mention: Between the cheerleaders’ chants of “LEE” and “SCOTT,“ some conscientious fans countered with “HYPHEN!“ I’m always up for being grammatically correct.)
