Bob CollinsThere are few sports stories around these parts better than the march of the Minneapolis North High School football team to the state championship game, which the squad lost over the weekend to Minneota.
The school was on the verge of being closed a few years ago, but the community saved it and the football team turned its fortunes around.
Then a player wiped all of that away with one stupid moment.
Referees didn’t see the eye-poking but TV viewers did and started calling the Minnesota State High School League demanding action against the player.
The MSHSL says it will contact school authorities today.
“I don’t teach kids to do that, to poke people in the eye,” North coach Charles Adams told the Star Tribune. “I don’t accept it or tolerate it.”
Then he added:
“My players usually respond to things that are happening. It was chippy on both sides … There were a million things that could’ve been caught on the field by either team.”
“With things that happen during a game, this is something that could have potentially been more than just something that takes a kid out of a game. It could have been something worse than that,” Minneota coach Chad Johnston told the Pioneer Press.
