Two Tennessee high school football teams are hoping to reverse a TSSAA decision which hit them with a two-year postseason ban.
When the handshake line after the game between Antioch and John Overton high schools broke out into a brawl last October, both schools were swiftly punished according to Nashville television station WZTV. The fight, which involved both thrown punches and thrown helmets, earned both schools $2,000 fines in addition to the playoff bans.
Each school appealed the ban in January, and now are coming together as part of a course focused on handling adversity in a healthy way.
“The fact that now, the kids are sitting together and sharing a common interest, hopefully this rivalry will stay healthy, and that’s our whole motive,” said Kevin Aigbe, the assistant principal at John Overton.
The programs are hoping that their off-field reconciliation efforts will be enough to convince the TSSAA to lift the ban.
WZTV reports that the TSSAA will hold the appeal hearing in June.
