Charges possible against Woodland Hills player for fight: P-G 2-21-12

Tuesday, February 21, 2012
By Mike White and Janice Crompton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

California University of Pennsylvania police plan to meet with the Washington County District Attorney's office to decide whether to file criminal charges against a Woodland Hills High School basketball player who punched an opposing player in a WPIAL playoff game Saturday.

Shakim Alonzo, a star senior player at Woodland Hills, ran across the court and punched Peters Township's Gabe Pritz from behind in the fourth quarter of a Class AAAA first-round game at California's Convocation Center. Pritz fell to the ground, bleeding from his ear, and later received 11 stitches.

California University Police Chief Bob Downey said his office will consult with the DA's office some time this week about possible charges.

"We will file what they deem to be the appropriate charges, if any," Downey said.

Downey said summary charges of harassment could be filed, or possibly simple assault, which is a misdemeanor.

Meanwhile, Alonzo said Peters Township used a racial slur toward him during the game. "They did," said Alonzo, who is African-American. "But I can't really talk any more about the situation."

Peters Township coach Gary Goga denied any of his players used racial slurs during the game. But after the game, a California security worker claimed he heard Peters Township players using racial slurs about Woodland Hills in the locker room.

Goga acknowledged what the security worker reported.

"I wasn't in the locker room after the game," Goga said. "It was told to me by the security worker who overheard it. He told our athletic director [Brian Geyer] and we addressed it with the team. It has already been addressed."

Goga was visibly upset and highly emotional after the game. About one minute after the contest ended, Goga did an interview with Lanny Frattare and Mark Schaas, who were broadcasting the game on the Internet for MSA Sports. In the interview, Goga said, "Our kid gets sucker punched. [Alonzo] should lose his scholarship to Cincinnati. If I'm the Cincinnati football coach, I don't let him walk on my campus. That's a punk who should never be allowed to play."

Alonzo, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound receiver, said Cincinnati assistant football coach Don Mahoney called him this weekend about the incident, but there was no talk of Alonzo losing his scholarship.

"He just wanted to know what went on," Alonzo said.

When contacted Monday, Goga backed off of some of his comments about Alonzo.

"I was just really emotional and worried about my player after the game," Goga said. "It was a choice of words that was extremely harsh and I understand that. In regards to the incident, I feel it was a violent attack. In regards to his scholarship, that's none of my business."

WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley said the league will not look at the case until after both schools review it and send reports to the league office. The WPIAL might choose to do nothing if they believe both schools thoroughly investigated and took disciplinary action, if needed.

"We are not policemen," O'Malley said. "When a kid misbehaves at school, that's the school's issue to discipline him. If a student misbehaves at an interscholastic event, the responsibility of discipline is delegated to the school.

"We are not an investigative body. ... This occurred during the course of a game and officials dealt with it. What we have to do as a league is make a determination of whether the schools' actions are appropriate."

George Novak, football coach and athletic director at Woodland Hills, said school officials will meet with players today about the game and the incident, and will file a report with the WPIAL later this week.

"We won't make any comments or decisions until we get statements from everyone involved," Novak said.

The WPIAL Board of Control also meets today. The board's next meeting is March 19. Peters Township will play Central Catholic Saturday in the WPIAL Class AAAA quarterfinals.

The loss to Peters Township ended Woodland Hills' season. The start of the game was delayed 45 minutes because Woodland Hills' team bus first went to IUP. It was a baffling mistake because California is 63 miles from IUP, according to mapquest.com.

Novak said a bus was ordered to go to California. Novak also said when Woodland Hills coach Mike Decker got on the bus Saturday, he asked the driver if he knew how to get to California.

"The guy said he knew how to get there," Novak said. "Mike isn't familiar how to get there because he has never been there."

Novak said Woodland Hills was on IUP's campus before it realized it was in the wrong place.

"It was just a bad day overall," Novak said.
For more on high school sports, go to "Varsity Blog" at www.post-gazette.com/varsityblog. Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1975. Twitter @mwhiteburgh. Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com.

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