JUNEAU — One coach saw dirty play. The other saw nothing wrong. Though the Ketchikan High School and Thunder Mountain High School football teams hold different opinions of what happened at Thunder Mountain High School on Friday, one thing is clear: two boys ended up in the hospital and the Friday night lights dimmed after only 19 minutes of play.
Ketchikan forfeited the game over safety concerns after two players were hospitalized with injuries. The game ended in the second quarter with Thunder Mountain leading 21-0.
"We walked off that football field for the safety of our players," Ketchikan coach Jim Byron said. "I don't agree with the way they were coached, the way they played. It's dirty, it's illegal, and I am just not going to have anybody else get hurt because of unfair play."
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Both hospitalized Ketchikan players were injured on the same play. With 7:58 left in the second quarter, Thunder Mountain running back Roy Tupou tore through Ketchikan's defense on a 36-yard touchdown run. No flags were thrown but in Tupou's wake three Kings were left on the turf, one slow to get up and two barely moving. Senior cornerback Trevor Brock was carried off the field on a stretcher and both he and senior free safety Nico DeGuzman were taken to Bartlett Regional Hospital.
One player was diagnosed with a concussion and the other with back spasms, according to Ketchikan coaches. A hospital spokesperson said they released both players to their primary care physicians at 10 p.m. Friday.
Play resumed after 20 minutes and players from both teams seemed heated, arguing and shoving after plays were blown dead. Two minutes later referees sidelined both teams and gathered around Byron.
"I just wanted to express that calls need to be made. … It wasn't a bad conversation," Byron said. "There was no argument, I was simply trying to protect my guys. I mean, guys are getting injured because there are no fouls being called, no flags being thrown with illegal hits taking place."
After talking with the refs, the Kings packed their gear and left the field. Referees immediately left the field, with one saying the game was ended for safety concerns.
Thunder Mountain coach Randy Quinto was bewildered by Ketchikan's abrupt exit. What he saw on the field couldn't have differed more from Byron's version.
"I don't know what I feel right now, it's kind of a weird, weird feeling. I have never been a part of something like this," he said. "Obviously my first concern is for their players and how they're doing. We didn't see anything that bothered us.
When their guys were down on the field, we were just making sure we kept it down and be classy about it. It could be one of our guys."
Quinto said he didn't see anything wrong with his team's play.
"It's football, both teams played hard," he said. "There were no personal fouls called, no unsportsmanlike conduct calls, and, you know, even on that play with the three guys down, there were no flags. Last play on kickoff, there were two great hits. Legal hits. It's football, it's a contact sport."
Play had been stopped for injuries four times previous to the play that brought DeGuzman and Brock down. Falcons players were injured during the course of the game in addition to Kings players.
There were no personal fouls called in 19 minutes of play.
The Alaska School Activities Association couldn't be reached for comment Friday night or Saturday afternoon, but if any violations of sportsmanship happened, the ASAA handbook dictates that "the Association will determine appropriate penalties and whether or not the student, coach or school will be suspended or barred from future contests or events."
Quinto thinks Ketchikan has unfairly pegged the Falcons as a dirty team.
"Last year they had accused us of being dirty once again," he said. "We showed them tape and we didn't feel there was anything."
The forfeit will result in a win for Thunder Mountain and a loss for Ketchikan.
Byron said he "hates to call it a forfeit because our guys aren't quitters."
"I felt like we competed, we have a good football team," he said. "We were already short a couple guys when we came up here and we felt like we could still compete and we did, but like I said I wasn't happy with the level of play."
The teams are scheduled to meet again Sept. 23 in Ketchikan. Byron said he looked forward to a rematch.
"Playing down there it is going to be a different ball game," he said.
Kevin Gullufsen covers sports and outdoors for the Juneau Empire. Reach him at kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com. This story was originally published in the Juneau Empire and is republished here with permission.