By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Sports
The headline should be that eighth-seeded Bossier shut out No. 9 Morgan City 1-0 Wednesday night in Round 2 of the LHSAA Division III boys soccer championship, advancing the Bearkats to the state quarterfinals for the sixth straight year.
The Bearkats will now face No. 1-ranked University Lab in the quarterfinals sometime in the next six days. U-High is the same team that beat the Bearkats in last year’s semifinals.
But that outcome became secondary moments after the high-intensity, hard-fought contest ended at Memorial Stadium, overshadowed by a wild, brief brawl involving players from both teams, resulting in multiple layers of disciplinary action issued and pending.
When the center referee blew the final whistle, the Bossier players were understandably excited and started to celebrate. Unfortunately based on where they were on the field, that celebration took place in front of the Tigers’ bench. Immediately, both teams began to jaw at each other. This quickly escalated to frantic pushing and shoving before punches were thrown, and some connected.
The Morgan City keeper, senior Micah Wilkerson, towered over nearly everyone else on the pitch, seemed to dodge a punch from a scrambling Bearkat and connected on a punch to the head of Bossier junior Leonardo Villarreal, who was knocked to the turf, laying unconscious for a few moments.
Moments later, game officials, coaches, school administrators and the Bossier Parish sheriff deputies were able to get the players separated, and the mayhem ended. The confusion did not.
The referees dutifully handed out four red cards total carrying a mandatory one-game suspension. Three went to Morgan City players, including Wilkerson, and one went to a Bossier player.
After reading the game report filed with the LHSAA, Bossier coach Gerardo Martinez said that he would be appealing the game suspension for his player assigned the red card. Martinez said that Bossier has the entire incident on video and it shows the refs had assigned the punch, and subsequent red card, to the incorrect player.
LHSAA rules prevent the refs from viewing video to determine who did what in such an event. They therefore submitted their report reflecting what they believed they observed, anticipating an appeal would be forthcoming, at least from Bossier.
Afterwards, the officials were overheard saying none of them expected the fight to happen. They recognized it was an emotional and intense game, but didn’t forsee the trouble in the aftermath.
Along with the possibility of having a player suspended for the state quarterfinals, and any other sanctions, there’s a distinct chance that charges for the knockout punch may be filed against Morgan City’s Wilkerson as early as today.
The game itself was a great one to watch as both teams put full effort on the pitch. Bossier had the lions share of the opportunities at goal, while Morgan City had a big share of possession. The Tigers were only able to muster one shot on goal, which was easily saved by Bearkats’ senior keeper Carlos Guifaro.
Bossier’s goal came in the first half when junior Luca Sifuentes was fouled in the Tigers box. Senior Bryan Tuyizere slotted the PK in the back of the net.
That and a smothering defense was enough to move the Bearkats deep into the playoff bracket in Martinez’ first season as head coach. Bossier got to the semifinals each of the past two seasons after a championship game run, another semifinal appearance in 2022 and a quarterfinal berth in 2021.
NOTE — In the initial report published Thursday morning, a torn jersey resulted in Morgan City’s goalkeeper being misidentified. That has been corrected.
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net
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