A Cleveland High School football player will be allowed to play in a championship game this weekend even though video shows the player sucker punching another player during last week’s playoffs.
KRQE is reporting that during the playoff showdown between between the Mayfield High School Trojans and Cleveland High School Storm last Saturday, Mayfield’s Dominic Carrasco was matched up against Cleveland’s Sterling Napier, the District 1-5A player of the year, Napier punched Carrasco.
KRQE’s report continued,
Napier got off to a hot start catching three passes in the first quarter. So Carrasco did something dirty to slow him down.
Video from two angles obtained or filmed by KRQE News 13 shows Napier lining up on the right side of the line at tight end with Carrasco on the other side. While a Cleveland running back gains yards, Carrasco grabs and lifts Napier’s face mask with one hand, while throwing a punch at Napier’s chin with the other.
No flag was thrown.
Napier appeared staggered by the blow and went to a knee before Cleveland could get off its next play. The senior star was knocked out for the rest of the game with a concussion and a neck stinger. Cleveland, without Napier, went on to lose to Mayfield by a single point.
Despite Rio Rancho Public Schools providing video evidence of the play to the New Mexico Activities Association, which investigated the incident, the NMAA has yet to suspend Carrasco from today’s game.
The reason? KRQE reports,
Even after the NMAA’s finding that Carrasco should’ve been ejected, an offense punishable with an automatic suspension, the NMAA is not suspending Carrasco from Saturday’s state championship game in Las Cruces against cross-town rival Las Cruces High School.
Although NMAA Associate Director Dusty Young declined to comment on the specific case, Young did tell KRQE News 13 the NMAA can’t suspend a player for an in-game incident if the official didn’t punish the player at the time.
You might expect the school itself to step up and suspend the player, but that has not happened either. What is happening here is that the school is putting a sport’s championship ahead of raising up children to be good citizens.
This type of thing is happening all too often. From college players getting away with rape and violent activities to coaches molesting students to professional athletes abusing drugs and committing murder.
Both the school and the NMAA should do what is right by the students and our educational system and suspend Sterling Napier publicly to send a message to students that this sort of behavior is not tolerated even by a star player.
Unfortunately, I already know the outcome. Just as with the star wrestler that bullied another student, the star player will get the pass. Coaches and athletic directors need to man up (or woman up) and show leadership in areas of character.
Shame on us.
I think you meant ” Dominic ” to be suspended not Sterling, he didn’t hit Dominic.