Adding new meaning to the words “do anything to win”, a football coach at San Pedro High School in California was caught on camera moving the first down marker to give his team a late and decisive first down. Now I’m not a rules expert but would assume that the moving of the chains is something that an official would do and not one of the coaches.

From the Daily Breeze:

Leading 7-6 with 7:19 left in the game, San Pedro decided not to kick on a fourth down from its own 44-yard line. The Pirates needed just over a yard for a first down.

Moments after a quarterback sneak netted about a yard, Bryan — positioned on the sideline next to the first-down marker — reached over and moved it backward from one side of the 45-yard line to the other.

As a result, the referees signaled a first down without a measurement on a play that otherwise appeared to require one.

San Pedro went on to score a touchdown at the end of the drive and held off Gardena for a 13-12 win. The Pirates were crowned Marine League champs — by just one game — and advanced to the City Section playoffs. Their season ended Wednesday when Sylmar scored on the last play of the game for a 33-30 quarterfinal victory.

Unfortunately for Coach Paul Bryan the game was being videotaped and he can be seen quite clearly doing his dirty deed. Click here to see the video (you will need Quicktime).

What a butt-head.

Update: On December 14th, Coach Paul Bran received a lifetime ban from LA Unified Schools for his actions. He has already been transferred to Wilmington Middle School. Some felt that the punishment was excessive others correctly saw the punishment as just given his responsibility of mentoring young men and the existing problems of reigning in cheating in sports.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 at 10:02 pm by Insider and is filed under (Un)education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.