By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
managing editor
KEYSER — The Frankfort student who spearheaded the post-game celebration which resulted in several students being pepper sprayed by security guards Friday says he never meant for anyone to get hurt, while a Keyser fan who watched the whole thing from the stands said she feels there would have been no problems if everyone would have obeyed the repeated announcements to stay off the field.
Frankfort defeated Keyser for the first time in six years Friday at the annual Mineral Bowl, held at Keyser's new Alumni Stadium at Tornado Alley. The after-game celebration got ugly, however, when security guards hired by Keyser pepper sprayed some Frankfort fans who wanted to storm the field to celebrate with their team.
Frankfort student Devin Jacobs, who said he and a
friend had planned the celebration for a week, told the NewsTribune Tuesday that he couldn’t believe how what was intended as a celebration got so far out of hand.
“We decided that, if we won, we wanted to go out on the field like Keyser did last year,” he said. “We hadn't won for six years and it was a big deal for us.”
Jacobs said their goal was only to celebrate with the team and not to do any harm or cause any problems.
“The intent was never to brag to the Keyser players or to destroy any property,” he said. “It was to celebrate the victory.”
When the crowd began to gather at the gate and started counting down with the clock, however, Jacobs said one of the security guards slammed the gate shut so they couldn't get through.
“He almost shut it on one young girl’s hands,” he said.
When Jacobs tried to go over the fence, the guard pulled out the pepper spray.
Jacobs said he heard no warnings that the crowd would be sprayed.
“There was no warning whatsoever. If there had been, we would have backed off,” he said.
Jacobs said he and about four others got the full brunt of the spray.
“It went all down the right side of my face, and my arms even burned. I had on a tank top,” he said.
It was at that time that Jacobs said he decided to leave, “because things were just going to get worse.”
He feels the entire situation was blown out of proportion.
“We weren't making any threats; we even told them we didn't want to hurt anything. There was no reason for it to be handled that way,” he said.
Keyser resident Kathy Ravenscroft, who was seated in the stands where she had a clear view of the area, said she feared there was trouble brewing when the crowd started to gather at the gate.
“I was there; I saw it all,” she said, adding that her husband had wanted to leave to beat the traffic but she convinced him to stay.
“I said it's going to get ugly,” she recalls.
According to Ravenscroft, KHS principal Charles Wimer and assistant principal Michael Saturday were in the pressbox when the crowd started to gather at the gates.
“I saw them say something to each other and they took off,” she said.
The two administrators wound up down on the field, in line with the security guards.
“The kids started climbing over the fence. I remember seeing either Mr. Wimer or Mr. Saturday actually pushing them back over the fence,” Ravenscroft said. “I knew they were going to have a problem on their hands.”
It was a problem that would never have existed, she says, if the fans would have followed the rules.
“Scott Furey said it over and over and over on the loud speaker that spectators are not allowed on the field. But they chose to not follow the rules,” she said.
“If they would have just listened to what they were told, this wouldn't have happened.”
Noting that Keyser fans had stormed the field at Frankfort Stadium last year when they defeated the Falcons in the 2008 Mineral Bowl, Ravenscroft said no announcement had been made at that time so say that the fans couldn't come onto the field at the end of the game.
“In fact, I've never been to a football game where they've told people to stay off the field.
“But Keyser decided no one's allowed on the field or track and those are the rules.”
Ravenscroft also pointed out that she did not witness any evidence that the rumors about racial slurs and insults between the two teams were true.
Noting that opposing teams usually line up and shake hands at the end of a game, she said the Keyser and Frankfort players were exchanging greetings and hugging each other on the field.
“I didn't see any cheap shots at all,” she said.
Keyser, W.Va. —
