In Wake Of Student Suicide, Hurricane Sandy, Undefeated Team Forced To Forfeit Game

Staten Island Advance (N.Y.), Stephen Hart

http://blog.silive.com/hssportsextra/2012/10/tottenville_coach_says_theyll.html

The undefeated Tottenville High School football team will take a forfeit loss Monday, according to head coach and school athletic director Jim Munson, as its makeup contest against Curtis will not be played due to Hurricane Sandy and will not be rescheduled.

On Thursday morning, Tottenville moved its home game against Curtis from Friday night to Sunday afternoon in the aftermath of Wednesday’s suicide of 15-year-old sophomore student Felicia Garcia. The school then decided on Friday to shift the game again — not only from Sunday to Monday afternoon, but from Tottenville to Curtis, where the game would be played with no fans in the stands.

Sunday’s announcement by Mayor Michael Bloomberg that all city public schools would be closed Monday due to the impending storm meant an automatic cancellation of all after-school activities.

“The game versus Curtis (Monday) is canceled and will not be replayed. We will take a forfeit,” Munson said Sunday. “That’s not so important right now, at this time of tragedy for our school and our school community.”

As of Sunday evening, the contest had not been listed as a forfeit on the PSAL website. When reached by phone Sunday night, PSAL football commissioner Jerry Epstein declined comment, referring all inquiries to the Department of Education. An email sent to DOE spokesperson Margie Feinberg had not been returned as of Sunday night.

The decisions to both move the site and bar fans from attending were made because of an apparent backlash against Tottenville football players.

According to previous published reports, police are investigating whether Miss Garcia — who jumped into the path of a Staten Island Railway train at the Huguenot station Wednesday afternoon — had been the subject of taunts and bullying following an alleged sexual encounter with members of the football team at a postgame party after a win over visiting Port Richmond on Oct. 19.

“Our principal (John Tuminaro) believed that playing the game on the weekend wasn’t right. He wanted to wait to play the game until Monday,” Munson said. “It’s our home game so we moved it.”

Curtis athletic director Eric Ritzer confirmed that the moving of the game was a “collaborative decision” between Tuminaro and Curtis principal Aurelia Curtis. “They thought it would be the best for everybody involved.”

Munson acknowledged that “there were safety concerns for our young men. Our principal thought it would be better to play Monday at Curtis with no spectators.

“There has been a lot of anger directed toward the team,” said Munson, who, when asked if any specific threats were made, declined to elaborate. “There have been a lot of inaccuracies in the newspapers and other media outlets. This is an open police investigation, so I can’t comment. I just hope people wait until after the facts come out before passing judgment.

“This is a tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Felicia and her family.”

Curtis head coach Pete Gambardella declined to comment on the forfeit until the decision is finalized by the PSAL.

“Obviously, we’d prefer to play the game for the kids,” he said. “We had a good week of practice. You worry about a lack of play. When we get back to school, we’ll figure out a game plan.”