Gainesville High will appeal 39 player suspensions on Tues. morning to the Georgia High School Association ahead of their third round playoff game at Hughes.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. — Gainesville High School’s football program is preparing for a crucial Tuesday appeal after 39 players were suspended following a bench-clearing fight that ended last week’s playoff game against Brunswick with under two minutes left on the clock in the third quarter.
The Red Elephants were leading 42–0 when officials halted the game, but head coach Josh Niblett and the school’s athletic director said the suspensions do not reflect what actually unfolded on the field.
Niblett said it has been hard to watch a season’s worth of work and character come into question over a few seconds of chaos.
“You know, it’s disheartening,” he said.
He described this roster as one of the strongest and closest groups he has coached.
“This is probably one of the tightest knit groups I’ve ever had as far as a team goes,” Niblett said.
He added that their identity is rooted in discipline and personal growth.
“I know what our program is about, I know what we do every day to build young men and our families know that and that’s a big part of what we do here and we’re prideful of that.”
The school argues those values showed throughout the game, even if video circulating online only shows the final confrontation.
“If you weren’t there for the full game the full three quarters that we played then you got no idea the complexity of what was going on during the game and how our kids restrained themselves,” Niblett said.
You can watch that brawl below>>
He maintains that a lack of control earlier in the matchup turned a tense night into what the public saw in the final two minutes of the third quarter.
“There was a lack of management in the game, you know there were a lot of things that could have been handled early on in the game to where this at the end would never even have transpired,” he said.
Athletic Director Adam Lindsey echoed those concerns, saying this could have been prevented.
“When coach says the game wasn’t managed, there were a lot of things that could have happened by either officials or the Brunswick coaching staff that could have eliminated all this from happening,” Lindsey said.
Niblett said emotions on Brunswick’s sideline were running high after Gainesville shut out a team that had scored 78 points the week before.
“We held them to zero so I think there was a little frustration in there too,” he said.
Much of the school’s frustration centers on the number of Gainesville players ejected, many who, according to Niblett, never threw a punch.
Video shows two Gainesville players having their helmets ripped off before being hit.
“You watch the two helmets get ripped off, you don’t see our kids throw a punch, you don’t see our kids push the kid, you see our guys step in between them and then get his helmet ripped off and then the guy jabs him with a punch. And they still back away,” Niblett said.
He said he agrees that any player who threw a punch should be suspended.
“Hey, if there was a guy that threw a punch, he should be ejected, I don’t condone that at all,” he said.
But he questioned why players who were nowhere near the confrontation, including defenders lined up on the opposite side of the field were also suspended.
“There’s defending yourself, there’s other guys trying to defuse the deal, but then at the same time we have 11 defensive players on the opposite side of the field that may jog down there but they’re on the opposite side of the field they get ejected. I mean, they’re just on the field,” he said. “The two guys who had their helmets ripped off and punched that got waylaid, they got ejected. I don’t understand what they are supposed to do.”
Both Niblett and Lindsey said they hope the appeals committee considers the full scope of the game when issuing its decision.