Suspensions force Spring Valley to forfeit to Arbor View

Spring Valley’s football team will forfeit its scheduled game on Friday against Arbor View following an incident last week against Legacy.

Twelve or more Spring Valley players left the sidelines during an on-field altercation during the third quarter of the Legacy game. According to Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association rules, those players are suspended for the next game.

Spring Valley officials were unable to determine exactly how many players went onto the field during the altercation, but athletic administrator Mark Lowry said, “It was the majority of the sideline.”

He estimated seven players remained on the sideline. Lowry said one player from each team was ejected. Those players also must serve a suspension.

Spring Valley, which doesn’t have a junior varsity team, decided the suspensions left them with too few players to compete safely against Arbor View.

“They have to be suspended for the next game, which leaves us very few players,” Lowry said. “The only players we would have to be able to put into that would be freshmen. And it’s kind of crazy to put freshmen up on the varsity.”

Lowry estimated that only 15-18 players would have been eligible to play this week.

“They don’t even fit the positions that we would even need,” Lowry said. “It would be like having three kickers out there playing offensive line.”

Clark County School District director of athletics Pam Sloan said the decision to forfeit the game was made at Spring Valley.

“That’s a site-based decision,” Sloan said. “Also at this point, it is a safety issue, too.”

Friday’s game was to have been Spring Valley’s first in the Northwest League. The forfeit will leave the Grizzlies at 2-3, and 0-1 in league.