City Lifts the Suspensions of Three Cleveland Players : Prep football: Two Cavaliers are penalized for one game and two others banned for the season after section officials view tape of brawl with Granada Hills.

The City Section Rules Committee rescinded the suspensions of three Cleveland High football players and suspended two additional players after the Cavaliers appealed Wednesday, section commissioner Barbara Fiege said.

Starting quarterback Junior Brignac, linebacker Leo Almodovar and running back Keewan Irving were cleared by the Rules Committee after being suspended Monday for the rest of the season, including playoffs, for their roles in a postgame fight with Granada Hills Oct. 27.

The suspensions of two other starters, wide receiver Alex Kalinowski and defensive back Sidney Smith, were reduced to one game. They will miss tonight’s game against El Camino Real.

The suspensions were changed after the rules committee reviewed written statements by each of the players and watched a videotape of a portion of the brawl obtained by Cleveland Coach Joe Santellano after Monday’s decision.

“We have to put a time limit for the original hearing for expediency,” Fiege said. “I don’t think its unusual to use a videotape to aid our decision. The reason this hearing was allowed was because of the videotape.”

Based on the videotape and statements, Cavalier reserves Kevin Reaux and Jason Bolding will be suspended for the remainder of the season, Fiege said. Bolding was suspended by Santellano for last week’s game against Chatsworth.

Santellano was still not happy with the ruling. He said Kalinowski and Smith are not being suspended for their roles in the actual fight, but for their actions leading up to the brawl, Smith for “trash-talking” and Kalinowski for writing inflammatory messages on his stomach.

“I still feel Alex and Sidney are being made the scapegoats for this,” he said. “They’re not being suspended for fighting. They are being suspended for things they should have been penalized for. If I knew about it, I would have stopped it.”

Also, the Rules Committee on Wednesday suspended Juan Diaz of Granada Hills for the remainder of the season.

Granada Hills defensive lineman Taybren Lee, who was slated to start today against Kennedy, was suspended Monday and Granada Hills earlier suspended reserve wide receiver Demirus Miller for his role in the fight, Fiege said.

Granada Hills Coach Brad Ratcliff did not see the videotape but still questioned why some of the suspensions were reversed.

“I find it kind of hard to understand how [the committee] can overrule their decision when they didn’t see the fight from start to finish on the tape,” he said. “We still believe [Cleveland’s] kid threw the first punch. I just hope this is over and done with.”

Had the suspensions been upheld, the losses would have severely crippled the playoff chances of the Cavaliers (6-3, 4-2). Kalinowski is fourth among area City Section receivers with 25 receptions and 10 touchdowns, and Irving has 375 yards in 46 carries,