Incident mars Eagles win

Published 4:29 pm Tuesday, October 5, 2010

LASKER – A big win by the Northeast Academy football team is being soured by the ending of the contest.

A video posted on youtube.com and other sites has been circulating throughout the day showing two coaches from Arendell-Parrott Academy of Kinston running onto the field and allegedly making contact with players from Northeast Academy.

The game, a 54-12 triumph for the Eagles, was stopped with 5:12 left to play in the fourth quarter following the incident.

The video (http://bit.ly/bgL93T) shows an interception by Parrott, which was returned to the Parrott sideline and a tackle made by two Northeast Academy players. While the tackle was being made, two men who appeared to be coaches for Parrott are shown leaving the visiting team’s sideline and running onto the field and apparently making contact with the Northeast players.

Northeast Academy Head Football Coach Collin Sneed told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald he was disappointed in the events that led up to the game being stopped, but supported the decision made by the referee.

“I wish all that stuff that happened last night wouldn’t have happened,” said Sneed. “It’s not the kind of publicity any of us need. It also disrespects the game we all love.”

Sneed admitted two players from Northeast were ejected during the contest, but said neither started the incident.

“On tape, what I saw in the first incident was one of the Parrott players stick his hand in Jake Ellis’ face mask and push another of our players down,” Sneed said. “Jake retaliated and that’s what the officials saw.”

On the other incident, which occurred during what turned out to be the last play of the game, Sneed said he did not know what happened to cause the ejection of Justin Lassiter.

Sneed did, however, say that no matter what any player did there was no excuse for a coach to touch an opposing player.

“I saw them make contact with our players on the second incident and it’s recorded on tape,” Sneed said. “Regardless of what was done or said, no coach has a right to touch a player.”

Sneed said he was called onto the field after the Parrott coaches rushed onto the field of play and officials said they were going to stop the game because it was out of hand and there was no chance for Parrott to come back and win.

“I supported their decision,” he said.

Asked about complaints from Bert Bright, the Head Football Coach at Parrott, during an interview with witn.com that Northeast players were pushing and shoving, Sneed said if that happened, there were officials on hand to take care of it.

“I didn’t see anything like that on tape, but if it did happen, the officials were there to take care of it,” he said. “What I did see was their coaches touching our players on one if not two occasions.”

During the same interview, Bright refused to answer questions about whether or not Parrot coaches entered the field of play.

Sneed said he believed the tape would be forwarded to the North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association for their review.