PREP FOOTBALL : Orange League : Magnolia Loses After 18 Players Put Off Team

Magnolia High School played its final game of the season Friday night without 18 varsity players who were dismissed from the team because they refused to sign a letter of apology for their part in a postgame fight with Valencia last week.

Magnolia lost to Brea-Olinda, 27-0, in front of 750 in Glover Stadium.

Tony DiThomas, Magnolia coach, wanted the players to acknowledge their part in the fight in separate letters to the Valencia team, to the Magnolia student body and faculty and to Cynthia Grennan, Anaheim Union High School District superintendent.

All the players signed the letters to the student body and to Grennan, but a number of seniors refused to sign the letter to Valencia on the grounds that they did not start the fight.

Jene Mangan, Magnolia principal, said a review of game films did not show how the fight started.

“We didn’t feel it was right,” said Stacy Crow, a senior cornerback. “It was the wrong thing to do.”

Said Mangan: “The players said they did not sign because they felt they were acknowledging that they caused the fracas.”

Jason Fox, a senior, wrote the three letters, saying, in effect, that the Magnolia football program does not condone their actions and that the team was sorry for the incident.

“I stressed over and over again that it wasn’t admission of guilt,” DiThomas said.

Nevertheless, DiThomas told the players if they didn’t sign the letter they would be dismissed from the team.

“All we wanted to do was make a written handshake,” DiThomas said. “I just wanted them to learn sportsmanship. I hope deep down they’ll still learn something.”

DiThomas and his assistants talked last weekend and came up with the idea of writing the letters and left it up to the players to sign.

“His program is built on sportsmanship,” Mangan said. “If the boys could not accept that, it was their choice to make and a number of boys chose not to sign.”

Without the 18 players, all of whom are seniors, DiThomas had 10 varsity players, most of whom were juniors who did sign, and a number of junior varsity players to fill out the roster Friday night.

The Brea game was scheduled to be a night to honor the senior players and their parents.

Magnolia finished the season 3-6-1 overall and 1-4 in the Orange League. Brea finished 3-7, 2-3. Neither team was in the running for a playoff berth.

“Honestly, I didn’t think that they’d react that way to the letter,” DiThomas said. “I don’t know why they reacted that way.

“I’m proud of the guys who did sign it. They showed some character. They helped teach the young guys all week.”