Four from Calabasas in trouble following fight during CIF-SS championship
After its biggest win in school history, Calabasas will go into its biggest game in school history shorthanded.
Keyshawn Johnson Jr. and three other members of the Coyotes football program are expected to be suspended for their roles in a skirmish in the team's 42-3 CIF-Southern Section Western Division championship win over Palos Verdes Saturday night. The win was the first CIF title in program history but it came at a cost.
Johnson leads the Coyotes (13-1) with 68 receptions on the season and will be missed when the team travels 90-plus miles to take on CIF-SS Inland Division champion Citrus Hill (12-2) in the CIF Southern California Division II-A regional bowl game.
Johnson was the only Calabasas player ejected from the CIF-SS final. The other three players were seen leaving the bench, according to the CIF-SS. Any player who leaves the bench during a game receives an automatic ejection and is ineligible for the team's next game, according to both CIF-SS and NFHS rules.
The CIF does not have the liberty to go back and issue ejections so it is up to the school to do so. On Monday, Calabasas officials were at the CIF-SS offices for a state bowl meeting and were shown video of the fourth quarter incident. It is now up to the school to hand down suspensions.
The CIF-SS is confident Calabasas principal C.J. Foss is 'on board with doing the right thing.' If so, Calabasas will be down four players on Saturday.
Two Palos Verdes players were also seen on video leaving the bench. Citing privacy laws, the CIF-Southern Section is unable to reveal the names of the suspended players. If those players are underclassmen for Palos Verdes, they will be required to sit out the season opener of 2016.
As of Monday evening, Calabasas head coach Casey Clasuen was unaware of who the additional suspended players for his team might be outside of Johnson.
"We don't know for sure yet," Clausen said to FOX Sports West. "Whatever outcome they have, we'll deal with it."
The skirmish began after Marquel Dismuke was hit late on a punt return after taking a knee with just under 3 minutes left in the game. That would prove to be the last play of the game as the officials tried to break up the skirmish and sort out penalties with a running clock.
