Mesa Legend - SPORTS 1


Volume 40, Issue 6. Today is .

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Volume 40, Issue 6
November 19, 2002

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Homecoming game tainted by riots
By Danny Alcocer Jr.
Mesa Legend

MCC Linemen
Photo by Michael Goodman/For the Mesa Legend
MCC star tailback Will Henry makes one of his 23 rushes to score a touchdown in the homecoming game on Nov. 9. Henry broke the MCC single-season rushing record in this final game of the season. Nonetheless the T-Birds still lost to the SCC Artichokes.

The 2002 MCC football season came to a sad close on Nov. 9.
In a season plagued with unnecessary turnovers and penalties, the once national powerhouse Thunderbirds recorded a dismal 3-7 record for the year.

So it seemed only fitting for the season’s final game to end they way it did . . . in a pub style brawl.

Yes, that’s right Mesa’s homecoming game ended with a fight.
Granted the Thunderbirds were the victim not the aggressor in the end, but you figure the thunderbirds have played the victim all season long what’s one more game.

The game started off just the same as any cross-town rivalry with the taunting and physical play, but it quickly got ugly when one SCC player was hit with an un-sportsmanlike conduct call, and pulled from the game by the SCC coaching staff.

As the game went on and MCC trailed, (what else is new), and there seemed to be an unusual amount of penalties taking place, 237 yards worth to be exact.

This time the majority of the yards weren’t on the thunderbirds though, SCC accounted for 145 yards in penalties on the night.

SCC somehow ended up winning the game though 29-15. But the score was not the high light of the game.

Neither is the fact that MCC’s tailback Will Henry whose 167 rushing yards on 23 carries were enough to etch his name in MCC’s record books as the new all-time single season rusher.

Nor is the fact that Henry missed Mickey Hatcher’s all-time points in a season mark of 109 points by just one, ending the year with 108.

No, all that action took the back seat this Saturday evening. The real fireworks began as the final second ticked off the clock.

Remember that player from SCC who received the un-sportsmanlike conduct call in the first quarter and was pulled from the game, When the coaching staff felt he had cooled off, they sent him back in the game late in the fourth quarter.

Well, he hadn’t cooled off just yet and was given another 15 yard penalty as the game came to a close.

He was pulled from the game a second time, but the action didn’t stop there.

While on the sideline the SCC player got into another heated argument, this time with his own coach.

The MCC players and coaching staff had about all they could swallow for the night.

Coach Rice advised his team not to shake the opposing team’s hand, as it’s a sign of good sportsmanship, something the Thunderbirds hadn’t received all night.

The SCC’s coaching staff didn’t take much of a liking to Rice’s bright idea so they had a bright idea of their own.

Let’s storm across the field like a bunch of yahoos!

And we’ll get those gosh darn Thunderbirds yet.

Don’t forget SCC did win the game.

Apparently winning wasn’t enough on this night, so as the SCC coaches rushed across the field their players followed.

And would you guess what happened a fight broke out.

Coaches were shoving coaches, players were shoving players, it was ugly.

So ugly, that the Mesa police department had to be called onto the field to break things up.

In the end one MCC player was arrested for hitting some one in the head with a football helmet, and an SCC coach was sprayed with mace and arrested as well.

Charges have yet to be filed for both incidents.

But wait there’s more the fans didn’t want to be left out off this three ring circus occurring on the field.

So they figured they ought to start gong at it too.

At the end of it all there were eight Mesa Police Department cars parked at John D. Riggs stadium, one SCC player being hauled away by the police, and an SCC assistant coach mixing it up with everyone and their mama, literally.

So what did Coach Rice have to say about all this, “No Comment.”
Pam Olerich MCC women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director at MCC would go on the record though saying, “It’s a sad commentary on our society today, we put so much emphasis on winning, everyone needs to step back and take a good look at what sports really mean.

After all it’s just a game, our country is on the brink of war and we have people fighting over things like football, it’s sad and I hope to never be there when something like that occurs.”