The Elyria Catholic Panthers will take the field Friday night against Collinwood without some of its top players.
Starting receiver/defensive back Josh Russ, starting tailback Alex Alicea, Mike Betka, Joe Dempsey, Cory Campbell and Buddy Davila will not be allowed to play in the game.
Panthers coach Ben Malbasa said the players violated team rules, but did not elaborate on details as to what the players actually did.
I don't think this will affect the outcome of tonight's game (EC should win by a lot), but it still doesn't look good for Panthers' image.
Yeah coach Malbasa is doing the right thing by sitting these guys out for the first game, but would he have sat these same players if the Panthers opened against Cardinal Mooney rather than Collinwood?
These players have to understand that they, just like pro athletes, are held to a higher standard in their high school because they play athletics.
Hopefully these guys have learned their lessons and Elyria Catholic will put the incident behind them and have a successful season.