Ejection of Redlands’ Coach Is Upheld

Redlands football Coach Jim Walker will miss his first game in 21 years as a high school coach after his ejection from last week’s game was upheld.

Safety Rocky McBroom, a three-year starter who was also ejected in the final minutes of a 19-14 loss to Rialto Eisenhower, will be eligible to play Friday against Fontana Miller because the officials rescinded his ejection this week.

On Monday, Walker went to the Southern Section office with Redlands East Valley Principal Tom Davis, the Citrus Belt League’s representative to the California Interscholastic Federation. They presented section officials with a game tape and argued that the referees had erred in ejecting the coach and player from the game.

The section turned Redlands’ appeal over to the liaison of officials for the Inland Football Officials Assn., which upheld Walker’s ejection and reversed McBroom’s. “We told [Walker and Davis] that there is a process to follow, and this is it,” said Rob Wigod, an assistant commissioner with the Southern Section. “We stand by the officials’ ruling and the matter is closed.”

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Mark Alvia, a senior defensive back and special teams player for Gardena Serra, has been in an induced coma since being injured in a car accident Sunday, Coach Scott Altenberg said.

“It’s been a tough week,” Altenberg said. “We’ve been thinking about him, and we’ve all come together around this. But it really kind of puts everything in perspective.”

Alvia suffered bleeding and swelling of the brain and has been comatose in the intensive-care unit of St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood since his arrival, according to Altenberg.

At the request of Alvia’s family, the hospital would not release any information, hospital spokeswoman Carol Lee Thorpe said.

Lauren Peterson