Garfield High players were told not to take the field after a bad call.
I’m not sure what to think of a high school coach’s reaction to a ref’s bad call, but to pull a team for such a trivial matter seems a bit absurd. In the teams’ season opener, Seattle’s Garfield High refused to take the field because their coach disagreed with a blown call. Garfield was trailing Lake Washington High 14-0 in the 3rd quarter when Garfield fumbled the ball and did not recover. Upset with the ref failing to blow the whistle prior to the turnover, coach Kelvin Goliday pulled his players off the field and called a timeout to discuss with the officials.
Apparently the officials didn’t want to hear any part of it saying their ruling was final. Under the coach’s order, the team did not return to the field. Subsequently, Garfield was assessed a delay of game penalty. Still refusing to take the field, the team was given another delay of game penalty which ultimately led to Goliday’s ejection.
With the coach gone, Garfield would not return to the field. The officials ruled that Garfield’s action, or in this case inaction, was grounds for a forfeit thus ending the game.
After the teams cleared the field and the lights shut-off, Goliday was placed on administrative leave, leaving the team without a coach and without a victory for the 2011 season.
