Wild Party Forces College Football Team To Forfeit Saturday’s Game

Gilroy police arrested a 19-year-old Gavilan football player and a 16-year-old girl after being called about reports of a gunshot outside of a house party on the 7000 block of Orchard Drive, where some Gavilan College student-athletes were partying.

What happened at the party 11 days ago – fighting, a gun was fired and minors were served alcohol – has led to the suspension of eight Gavilan football players and the forfeit of Saturday’s game.

Freshman wide receiver, Jerry Landers, 19, who lives at the residence and has since been dismissed from the team, was arrested for obstruction and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, GPD Sgt. Chad Gallacinao. Police records say that several under-age persons were drinking alcoholic beverages, including at least three minors under the age of 18. Gallacinao did not say why the 16-year-old was arrested.

Following the altercation Sept. 25, the Gavilan Athletic Department launched an investigation into the events, led by Athletic Director Ron Hannon. On Wednesday, Hannon announced that eight other players were suspended, forcing the program to forfeit Saturday’s upcoming game against Contra Costa College.

“We were very aggressive the moment we found out,” Hannon said Wednesday morning. “We jumped right into action as far as how we were going to address it once we knew what happened. There is one student-athlete who is no longer part of our program; he was dismissed over this event. A number of student-athletes, through our own investigation, have been found to have violated our Student-Athlete Code of Conduct.”

After receiving a call of fighting and a gunshot, Gilroy police responded to 7000 block of Orchard Drive at 12:23 a.m. Sept. 25 where about 30 people were gathered Landers’ house after the Rams’ 56-0 loss to College of the Sequoias. Gallacinao said that upon officers’ arrival they noticed a bullet hole in the front window of the home and requested admittance into the house, but were denied by Landers.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Landers decided not to open the door,” Gallacinao said.

Because of the circumstances, “and fear that there may be injured individuals,” Gallacinao said officers forced their way into the house.

Gallacinao said it appeared the fight occurred outside and that is from where the gun was fired. He said police are still investigating who fired the weapon.

“From what I was told, the person that shot the gun was somebody we are identifying as an outsider, somebody not associated with our college and our athletic department,” Hannon said.

Hannon added that he was contacted by GPD and informed of the incident Sept. 27, and immediately addressed the team about the situation.

“We found out, followed up and asked questions ourselves to figure out what actually happened,” Hannon said. “The concern grew and obviously this isn’t something that we would condone.

“This isn’t something you put on the back shelf,” Hannon continued. “This is something we had to jump out in front of, be aggressive and get to the bottom of it. We didn’t turn our backs on this for a second.”

Hannon said he interviewed about 25 to 30 student-athletes, branching out to all six Gavilan teams, about the party. Due to the findings through the weeklong school investigation, nine football players in all were disciplined. Eight were served one-game suspensions while Landers was dismissed from the team. Hannon also indicated that there were “other” student-athletes from different teams who will face the same punishment, but declined to say from which sport. With eight players suspended, the Rams would have only had 23 eligible players for Saturday’s game.

Hannon and first-year head coach Spencer Gilford met with the team Tuesday to relay the decision to forfeit.

“Originally I wanted to have the suspensions over several games. I hate the idea of having to forfeit,” Hannon said. “But Spencer felt strongly that it was best to get the situation behind us as soon as possible without minimizing the conduct and the message we are trying to send to our students. We have standards and expectations. There are conditions to participate as a student-athlete in our program and we are not going to compromise.”

The Rams went winless through their non-conference schedule, and due to the forfeit, will carry a 0-5 record into the Coast Conference South opener versus San Jose City College on Oct. 15.

The Gavilan Student-Athlete Code of Conduct states, among other points of emphasis that “student-athletes at Gavilan College are expected to represent themselves, their team and the College with honesty, integrity, and character whether it be academically, athletically or socially.”

The document also outlines areas where student-athletes would be in violation, such as an arrest for any crime, harassment directed toward any person or group, hazing, lewd or obscene behavior, use/possession of chewing tobacco or other tobacco products, possession of illegal drugs and/or alcohol, including related paraphernalia, fighting, theft or burglary, gambling or bribery and any conduct that is detrimental to Gavilan College or Rams Athletics. All are grounds for a one-game suspension or dismissal from the team depending on the severity of the misconduct.

“If there is any silver lining in this, we know they are hearing the message because they were willing to come forward and deal with this honestly,” Hannon said. “It’s unfortunate. We had some good people that just made a bad decision. The fortunate thing is that nobody was injured.

“We take the Code of Conduct very seriously and it’s important to us the types of students that we are developing here are students that are going to be able to make the right decision. If our student-athletes can’t live up to that standard, then they can go find somewhere else to participate,” he said.