“A Mater Dei football player was taken to an emergency room this morning after a fight with another player during a campus practice left him with a concussion, broken teeth and a broken nose, his father said,” according to the O.C. Register.
Mater Dei officials did not call the police. They did not call 911. A Mater Dei assistant coach later said that the beating was “part of football.” It sounds like attempted murder to me.
The player’s father asked to see video footage of the beating. Apparently the Mater Dei coaches videotape their practices. They refused the father’s request. No problem. He just needs to sue them then his lawyer can subpoena the video.
“School President Patrick Murphy described the fight as “simply a football incident. It escalated and they took swings at each other,” according to the O.C. Register.
The player who was first hospitalized, Jonathan Sedeno, was almost unconscious when his dad took him to the hospital. The other player was also hospitalized.
I wonder if the Mater Dei coaches goaded these players into the fight? They appear to have something to hide. Murphy’s description of the incident is insulting to our intelligence.
Are vicious beatings a part of Mater Dei football? This incident is a real black eye for Mater Dei football. I thought kids were supposed to be safe at Mater Dei, as opposed to the kids outside of Mater Dei who have to deal with gang violence on a regular basis?
LOL. Anyone wanna bet on how long it takes Jubal to respond to Art’s goading and then they start going at it?
#1,
I think Matt/Jubal is a graduate of Servite.
I also graduated from a Catholic High School, Don Bosco Tech. But we didn’t have a football team. I was on the debate team.
Loyola graduate here. Those guys are animals. 🙂
I’m a Friar. I’ll leave it to Monarchs to defend MD football.
It’s not entirely surprising that a fight might break out at a football practice. But it’s wrong is stonewalling the parent of that boy. After his boy took a beating like that, the school at the very least ought to let him see the tapes. Art’s right: the school is practically inviting a lawsuit.
Something changed at that school for the worse once Gary McKnight arrived, and especially after he became Athletic Director.
Matt/Jubal,
Good answer. McKnight is certainly suspect. This story is going to end up on the AP wire – and don’t be surprised if Larry King and others have a whack at it. Mater Dei is going to be more black and blue that the poor guy who got pounded…
Did I read this correctly? A nearly unconscious student and the school didn’t call 911. The coaches didn’t take him to the hospital. No, they take the responsible action of calling his parents so they can take care of their son. Amazing! And people blame lawyers for ridiculous lawsuit. It won’t take the Amazing Kreskin to figure this one out.
It always bothers me when I read a Register article and a prominent responsible party is left completely out of the story. THE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH AT MATER DEI IS BRUCE ROLLINSON. Why was a lowly assistant coach a spokesman for Rollinson’s team? Rollinson’s always in the spotlight, except when there’s a major issue. Pretty sneaky.
Did this incident occur at Rollinson’s football camp or was it regular Mater Dei practice?
In a recent article, Rollinson upped the ante of football by introducing “more competition” by pitting team mates against each other.
http://www.ocvarsity.com/ocvarsity/sports/football/gotw/b/article_2066136.php
Here’s an excerpt from the June 2008 inverview:
” Bruce Rollinson: This is a group that for the 13th day, today (Wednesday), I’ve gone off the field saying, ‘All right, they’ve worked very hard.’ The inexperience shows with the mistakes, but that’s why you have spring football. The experience shows with playmaking and leadership out of those young men. That pleases me. Overall, we didn’t get anyone banged up. I feel good about this phase of the development of the team.
Q: What were you hoping to accomplish?
BR: We went to a little bit of a different format. We wanted to enhance the competition, so early on the first day at the start of spring football, we split the team in half. We went against each other. We were able to coach more young men in the same amount of time. And the competition has proven to be very beneficial. In between there we put together what we thought would be tentative starting lineups on both sides of the football and then we would go against the best available service teams. When you look at spring football, you’re trying to identify weaknesses. It gives you direction for the summer.”
Great new “direction”. Was that a high school football practice or some kind of cock fight orchestrated by the coaches?
That kid requires oral surgery because he went to Rollinson’s practice. Mr. Rollinson, you might want to go back to the old format that requires you to call for medical assistance when one of your players gets beaten up. Maybe you’re just getting bored with the same old thing and you needed to invent a new and dangerous twist for your own entertainment.
Who wants to guess that the SAPD does what it can to bury the whole incident? Say, what’s that erasing sound? What practice tapes?
Wow, it’s the people like you that just really don’t have a life so they have to criticize random fights like this one to make them selves happy, and I bet your a servite fan. Good going.
MD isn’t any different than any other high school, The only reason this made news was because it was MD and not two kids from Century High School.
Yes, it happened again Feb 5th. Ask any MD football player
What happened then?
Something about another Mater Dei football “getting beaten to a pulp” by a teammate, judging from the headline, but of course the anonymous report here is unconfirmed. Anyone know a Mater Dei football player we can ask? Email Vern if so.
What? I hadn’t seen this Pedroza story before, or I forgot about it. Fun fact, I graduated from Mater Dei in 78 – ten years after Anaheim Councilman Steve Faessel.
And in 1977, I was a junior, and Queen released “We are the Champions.” Well the Cross-Country team, which I was on, actually WERE champions – we beat everyone else in the league. Still people, and girls, were more impressed with the football team, who were only CO-CHAMPIONS that year, having tied with Bishop Amat. Yes, they were officially called “co-champions.” Yet they still walked around in their silly letterman’s jackets as though they were all that and a bag of chips. Well, what could we do but re-write the Queen song for them? Enjoy…
Are there any details about this recent incident?
You probably saw my response to you above, Bill. Find us a source if you want to see this published. It’s not at the top of my priority list, but it could be legit news.