Turlock looks to 'Harvest' change
The crowd poured into Turlock High's Joe Debely Stadium on Friday night.
Every spot in the bleachers was filled with a rabid fan, wearing either Turlock's blue and gold or Pitman's green and black.
Friday night marked the fifth annual football game between crosstown rivals Turlock and Pitman high schools. It was the largest crowd ever for a game that has had its share of big gates.
That's a good thing; and a bad thing.
While the people in the stands were watching the game, some fights broke out among the crowd crammed into the area just behind the south end zone. Those fights -- none of which involved Turlock or Pitman High students -- have school officials contemplating some major changes before next year's Harvest Bowl.
Turlock Unified School District Superintendent Sonny Da Marto issued a statement that said he had concerns regarding some of the behavior that took place during the game. He's going to form a committee made up of administrators and students from both schools that will come up with a plan for next year.
"We are one community, one district," Da Marto said. "We want this to be a day of celebration."
Both school principals agreed.
"We need to provide a safe and secure environment," Turlock principal Dana Trevethan said. "When you have a crowd like that, you can't always control what's going on."
Pitman principal Rod Hollars, a former head football coach at Turlock High, agreed.
"The real issue was the size of the crowd," Hollars said.
Some of the potential changes include:
Moving the game from Friday night to Saturday afternoon. The security presence would have more visibility during the day. Plus, less people would probably show up for a Saturday day game instead of a Friday night.
Limiting the crowd even further than officials did Friday night. The gates were closed before the varsity kickoff Friday night, and there was still a large line of people waiting to get in. A future maximum number allowed may be 4,500, which is below Joe Debely stadium's seating capacity of about 5,000. Hollars said Friday's crowd was "above 8,000."
Children below high school age wouldn't be allowed in the game without an adult. A large portion of the crowd behind the south end zone was unattended children. There is always a crowd of children away from the stands at football games across the valley, but this end zone crowd was literally shoulder-to-shoulder.
Approval of all signage before the game. At halftime, the Turlock side held up a large sign that said "We our teachers ... but not like that." It was in reference to former Pitman teacher Carl Kubicek's sentencing for having sex with a 17-year old student.
"None of the signs were approved by us," Trevethan said. "We've never felt we've had to go to that level. Now it looks like we do."
There's no question changes are coming.
"They're going to be positive changes, too," Hollars said.
Perhaps the largest change is going to be more cooperation between campuses.
"The essence of the plan is to bring both schools together," Trevethan said. "We need to collaborate better. And we will."
WHILE Stallworth Charter Academy's suspension was the big news coming out of Wednesday's Sac-Joaquin Section board of managers meeting, there were other interesting tidbits as well.
The section approved both boys volleyball and girls wrestling championship tournaments. Seven leagues in the north play boys volleyball, and there will be a 21-team tournament this spring. The girls wrestling championship will be on a Saturday in January at Vallejo High School.
A state proposal to increase the Northern and Southern California regional basketball tournaments from eight to 16 teams will be voted upon this year. It was a first-reading discussion at Wednesday's meeting.
Will DeBoard's high schools column appears Thursdays. E-mail him at wdeboard@modbee.com, write him at P.O. Box 5256, Modesto, CA 95352-5256, call 578-2300 or fax 238-4551.
This story was originally published October 23, 2008 at 3:03 AM with the headline "Turlock looks to 'Harvest' change."