SANTA ANA : Order Reinstates Team in Playoffs

The Garden Grove/Anaheim Chargers Midget Football team, which was suspended for the rest of the season after a brawl with the competing Orange County Packers on Oct. 28, won a court order Tuesday allowing it to practice for and participate in the playoffs.

Superior Court Commissioner Julian Cimbaluk granted the temporary restraining order at the request of the Chargers and their coaches, who filed suit in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday contending that the team’s suspension Nov. 1 was unduly harsh.

The team includes youngsters ages 12 through 14.

The court order means that the executive council of Orange County Junior All American Football cannot exclude the team from competing in the playoffs, which begin Nov. 18, until at least Nov. 22. At another court hearing on that date, Cimbaluk will be asked to extend the order indefinitely.

The team’s suspension was sparked by a brawl at Santiago High School, where they had just finished playing the Packers. The fight began among players but expanded to include parents. Police were summoned, but the incident ended by the time they arrived.

The lawsuit said suspension of the entire team was unfair because the fight started as a “typical football scuffle” between only two players.

Loss of the chance to compete for the rest of the season would be “emotionally devastating” to the young players, the lawsuit said, and would “instill a notion of unfairness and injustice in children at an early age.”