Atholton coach Schmitt talks about the forfeit
Atholton football coach Kyle Schmitt has been forthcoming about the summer practice violation his program has been penalized for -- forcing the Raiders to forfeit their season opener -- ever since he became aware of it.
Schmitt said his team did practice Monday, May 23 for a 7-on-7 tournament scheduled for the following week, but that the MPSSAA rule governing summer practices does not allow any football practices until after the final spring state championship game, which was Saturday, May 28.
The coach and athletic director Mike Senisi reported the violation to Mike Williams, coordinator of athletics for the Howard County public schools. Williams then reported the infraction along with a recommendation for penalty to MPSSAA officials, who handed down the forfeit penalty in July.
"What we did was we had a competition the first week of the summer, after Memorial Day, and we had some competitions coming that next week," Schmitt said. "The way I interpreted the rule was that we get that one practice in before the competition in order to prepare in some capacity. I'm a big believer in not going into a competition without practice. I interpreted that we could have our practice, but we're not allowed to have any kind of contact (with the players) before the last state championship was over which was the weekend of Memorial Day. In that capacity we were too early, about six days too early.
"I was not unaware that you could not work with your players all summer. I'm not oblivious to the rules. I interpreted the rule and my mistake was not getting clarification from Mike Williams, my athletic director Mike Senisi and that clearly was my mistake."
Schmitt did not want to talk about how he became aware of the mistake but that it was brought to his attention and Senisi's.
The penalty for the mistake is to forfeit the first game of the season, the Sept. 2 game at Glenelg. The game, however, will be played as scheduled to allow both teams to play their full slate of games.
With a Howard County race that is always tight and has a handful of possible spoilers this season, the forfeit could be costly to the Raiders, who finished 8-2 last season, reached the regional semifinals, where they fell to county rival Wilde Lake, which went on to win the state championship.
"It's difficult," Schmitt said, but the players take extra motivation from the challenge. He said they don't mind being the underdog. It's role that's worked for them quite well in the past.
"Our kids are pretty resilient. I'm impressed by it every day," Schmitt said. "If anything our participation in the summer and camp has been better. Our kids, they're determined at this point. They know what's ahead of them. They understand that they had nothing to do with it. Coach Schmitt kind of put them in a bad spot and I think they've determined at this point to make it OK. We've got to win though."
