mighty hornet
The HMIC!!
jsue lames,
Save all the Hornet jokes for another thread, but what's up with this mess????
It was thuggery, not football
By Mike Knobler
Clarion-Ledger Sports Editor
ITTA BENA ? You knew things were different Saturday night even before Mississippi Valley State took the field against Jackson State.
You knew it right from the invocation, which sought God's blessings for "not only Valley but the other institution that is here."
Some words no respectable Delta Devil can bring himself to say, not even in prayer.
Saturday, for the first time in 22 years, Valley finally got that other institution here for a football game. It turned into a nasty feud, complete with a five-minute melee.
JSU got 66 points; Valley 36. The cheap shot tally looked a lot more even.
The refs walked off enough personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to stretch from here to Jackson. The players went right on taunting each other.
The king of the cheap shots came on a second-quarter punt. JSU's LaDerrick Crossley looked skyward, waiting to catch a very high, very short kick. In flew Valley's Willie McGee, leveling Crossley long before the ball arrived.
"He told me it was intentional after he hit me. That's some dirty stuff there," said Crossley, who wobbled off the field with a swollen lip, a bruised left thigh and a head that's sure to be aching today.
McGee denied saying it was intentional.
"I was just trying to make a big play," McGee said. "It turned out to be a bad one. It wasn't really intentional. I was just trying to get the offense back the ball."
He's a senior, a two-year veteran of the punt return team. He ought to know better.
"It's unfortunate, but that's football," Valley coach LaTraia Jones said. "I hate that it happened."
No, it wasn't football. It was thuggery.
And so was what happened on the next punt.
The ball bounced short, and Valley return man Terrell Adams backed away. He was more than 10 yards downfield from the ball when JSU's Tim Ingram flattened him.
And so the fighting started, a few feet from the JSU bench.
JSU's Marion Mark and Valley's Kelvin Perry wrestled to the ground. JSU kicker Adeshina Olagabegi and Valley defensive back Tracey Gullage swung their helmets like clubs, and they weren't the only ones. JSU linebacker Dewayne Johnson kicked a fallen Delta Devil player. Coaches of both teams got caught in the middle. They weren't very successful in separating the combatants; neither were the referees or the police officers who rushed to help.
There were a lot more fighters than peacemakers.
"Was I involved? I think the whole team was," JSU defensive end Llvee Archie said.
I pieced together the above account from what I saw live and on videotape shot by WJTV-Channel 12.
Southwestern Athletic Conference James Frank will have to piece together his own account, from game films and referees' reports. Frank must determine the punishments, which ought to include suspensions for players of both teams.
Adams got a mild concussion, Jones said. Two players from each team were ejected.
Neither coach covered himself in glory. Neither took responsibility for his players losing control.
JSU's Robert Hughes blamed it all on McGee's cheap shot. Valley's Jones blamed it all on the intensity that comes from a football rivalry.
Jones said in the preseason that Valley was going to get down and dirty intensity-wise.
"I wasn't planning on getting that dirty," Jones said.
It's up to him and Hughes to ensure it doesn't happen again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Save all the Hornet jokes for another thread, but what's up with this mess????
It was thuggery, not football
By Mike Knobler
Clarion-Ledger Sports Editor
ITTA BENA ? You knew things were different Saturday night even before Mississippi Valley State took the field against Jackson State.
You knew it right from the invocation, which sought God's blessings for "not only Valley but the other institution that is here."
Some words no respectable Delta Devil can bring himself to say, not even in prayer.
Saturday, for the first time in 22 years, Valley finally got that other institution here for a football game. It turned into a nasty feud, complete with a five-minute melee.
JSU got 66 points; Valley 36. The cheap shot tally looked a lot more even.
The refs walked off enough personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to stretch from here to Jackson. The players went right on taunting each other.
The king of the cheap shots came on a second-quarter punt. JSU's LaDerrick Crossley looked skyward, waiting to catch a very high, very short kick. In flew Valley's Willie McGee, leveling Crossley long before the ball arrived.
"He told me it was intentional after he hit me. That's some dirty stuff there," said Crossley, who wobbled off the field with a swollen lip, a bruised left thigh and a head that's sure to be aching today.
McGee denied saying it was intentional.
"I was just trying to make a big play," McGee said. "It turned out to be a bad one. It wasn't really intentional. I was just trying to get the offense back the ball."
He's a senior, a two-year veteran of the punt return team. He ought to know better.
"It's unfortunate, but that's football," Valley coach LaTraia Jones said. "I hate that it happened."
No, it wasn't football. It was thuggery.
And so was what happened on the next punt.
The ball bounced short, and Valley return man Terrell Adams backed away. He was more than 10 yards downfield from the ball when JSU's Tim Ingram flattened him.
And so the fighting started, a few feet from the JSU bench.
JSU's Marion Mark and Valley's Kelvin Perry wrestled to the ground. JSU kicker Adeshina Olagabegi and Valley defensive back Tracey Gullage swung their helmets like clubs, and they weren't the only ones. JSU linebacker Dewayne Johnson kicked a fallen Delta Devil player. Coaches of both teams got caught in the middle. They weren't very successful in separating the combatants; neither were the referees or the police officers who rushed to help.
There were a lot more fighters than peacemakers.
"Was I involved? I think the whole team was," JSU defensive end Llvee Archie said.
I pieced together the above account from what I saw live and on videotape shot by WJTV-Channel 12.
Southwestern Athletic Conference James Frank will have to piece together his own account, from game films and referees' reports. Frank must determine the punishments, which ought to include suspensions for players of both teams.
Adams got a mild concussion, Jones said. Two players from each team were ejected.
Neither coach covered himself in glory. Neither took responsibility for his players losing control.
JSU's Robert Hughes blamed it all on McGee's cheap shot. Valley's Jones blamed it all on the intensity that comes from a football rivalry.
Jones said in the preseason that Valley was going to get down and dirty intensity-wise.
"I wasn't planning on getting that dirty," Jones said.
It's up to him and Hughes to ensure it doesn't happen again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
