INDIANAPOLIS – Following an incident of unsportsmanlike behavior during last Friday’s football game between South Bend Washington High School and Michigan City High School, IHSAA Commissioner Bobby Cox has placed both teams on probation for the remainder of the 2015 season and suspended several players and an assistant coach.

Cox conducted a meeting at the IHSAA office in Indianapolis this afternoon with principals, athletic directors and coaches from both schools in attendance.

Probation is official notice that serious violations have occurred, are a matter of record and future, similar incidents will not be tolerated.

Six players as identified by each school (four for Michigan City and two from South Bend Washington) as well as one South Bend Washington assistant coach are suspended for the next game.

In addition, each ejected player must complete the Sportsmanship course available at NFHSLearn.com and both schools shall provide certification of completion of this course to the IHSAA prior to Friday, September 4, 2015.

South Bend Washington assistant coach Keith Witherspoon is suspended indefinitely by the school and the IHSAA has instructed him to take the Teaching and Role Modeling Behavior online course offered at NFHSLearn.com.

Because this game did not end in the appropriate manner, the game will be scored as a double forfeit.

After reading reports, analyzing video, and discussing the incidents with school administrators, the IHSAA does not believe or agree that the game reached the level of a brawl as some have suggested. It was a highly‐competitive game that got out of hand.

“Sportsmanship is still a primary focus of the IHSAA,” said the commissioner. “Incidents of this nature erode the interscholastic experience for everyone involved. I applaud both schools for proactively meeting at Michigan City High School the next day to discuss the incidents of the game and formulate future plans to eliminate undesirable behaviors.”