CEDARVILLE -- The clash that ended with the arrest of their head football coach for inciting a riot started when his team lined up to shake the other team's hands, said Cedarville parents interviewed Friday.
Those parents were interviewed at the best spot in town to draw a large crowd -- a home football game for Cedarville High School. Friday, their team hosted Marshall.
Parents and players were in Elkins a week earlier. When they left -- their buses escorted by sheriff's deputies -- they knew the game had ended in a ruckus, the parents said. But they thought the incident was over.
On Wednesday, their high school's head coach put up an $8,800 bond. Kevin Lea, 36, was arrested in connection with inciting a riot, failure to disperse, second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, harassment and obstruction of government operations. All are misdemeanor offenses.
Like many Arkansas small towns, this Crawford County community is more of a central meeting place and grocery shopping center for a wider community of people living on wooded tracts. The people who live in town add up to 1,394, according to the sign at the city limit. They could all fit in the performing arts center of Springdale High School without having to open up the balcony.
The school district's campus is by far the most dense collection of buildings in Cedarville. Only those who can recognize Kevin Lea could tell by looking that something was wrong Friday night. The head coach wasn't there. His chief assistant took over while school administrators decide if action against Lea is needed. Lea's charges include inciting a riot, failing to disperse and using provocative and obscene language.
The first sign of any trouble in Elkins was a mid-field incident while the game had less than a minute left to play.
"All this was over a normal football fight between players that the coaches broke up before the game ended," said parent Roxann Davis. "It was pretty dumb, pretty much," she said.
After the player clash was dispersed, Elkins had possession of the ball and the lead with 30 seconds to go. They decided to run the clock out and let the game end, according to the Elkins police report, so referees decided to go ahead and call the game.
"Most of the Elkins players left the field," said Brian Evans, a Cedarville parent. The whole Cedarville team lined up as it normally does, Evans said, expecting to meet their opponents midfield after a game. "It's to say 'good game,'" Evans said. The result this time, though, was that their team and coach started marching across a field toward an outnumbered set of Elkins players.
Each of the Cedarville parents interviewed Friday acknowledged that they were not within earshot when Lea allegedly made offensive, racial insults to Elkins coach Thurman Shaw, who is black. All seven parents interviewed said racial remarks or a display of temper would be uncharacteristic of Lea, in his second season as head coach, but they did not hear what was said on field.
"My son absolutely looks up to coach Lea, who has always been ready to do anything for anybody," said parent Tisschell Flowers. "I've been just sick about it," Tisschell said of the whole incident.
Cedarville Superintendent Dan Foreman said Friday that a decision on Lea's status at the school would be made soon, but gave no timeline. Lea is set to appear in Elkins District Court on Dec. 1. Neither Foreman nor Lea have made any public statements on the case.
By police accounts, the remaining Elkins coaches and players left the field at the request of police. Cedarville players were told to do likewise. Cedarville parents were still in the stands and were not present when those orders were given, but believe the layout of the field could have been a factor in what happened next.
Locker rooms for both teams are on the same side of the field, the home side, they said. The way their team normally would go off the field would be to those locker rooms. That would have taken their team toward the Elkins team instead of away from them, as police on the field had requested.
At this point, according to the police report, Lea cursed an officer and refused to be taken by the arm and escorted, jerking his arm away. According to both the police report and video taken at the scene, Cedarville players converged around their coach as this confrontation began. One Elkins officer reported being hit hard in the back and another reported a busted lip from either a helmet or a shoulder pad of one of the players.
Elkins police would not comment on the Cedarville version of events on Saturday, and would have no further comment until the police chief returned on Monday, a spokesman for their office said.
Several parents interviewed said they took to the field when they saw a disturbance start, but only after spectators from the Elkins side got on the field. The Cedarville parents insisted they acted out of concern for their kids.
"I was told to get off the field by a man in a black T-shirt and black cotton pants," said Charles Bentley of Cedarville. "I told him I would when I was sure my boy was safe. If he was wearing a badge, I didn't see it."
Commentary on 10/25/2015