Iroquois High held 'white out' game to boost school spirit, but now faces wrath of PIAA

This "white out" game is causing a lot of people to see red.

The Iroquois High School Braves hosted the game on their home field in Lawrence Park Township on Oct. 5.

In a break from the tradition of the visiting team wearing white, Iroquois wore white jerseys and the visiting Greenville High School Trojans wore dark jerseys.

The jersey swap has churned up an intense disagreement.

The dispute has become so heated that the Iroquois School District is facing a rare disciplinary hearing before the District 10 Committee of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The District 10 Committee says PIAA rules prohibit "white out" games — contests in which the home team wears its white away jerseys rather than its dark jerseys typically reserved for home games.

The District 10 committee is also faulting Iroquois for not completing a "self-report" in which it would acknowledge the violation, pledge to prevent it from happening again and thus avoid a disciplinary hearing.

The Iroquois School District is arguing that it did nothing wrong in holding the "white out" game, though it said it will make sure that it does not hold such a game again. The district said it staged the "white out" to encourage students to attend the Oct. 5 game, which was held on a Thursday night rather than the typical Friday night or Saturday.

The district — in actions that are not in dispute — got approval for the jersey switch for the game from a referee and from Greenville High School, in Mercer County.

Based on those approvals, the district said a disciplinary hearing is unnecessary, overly punitive and reflective of what the Iroquois schools superintendent described as a rule-bound and "dictatorial" culture within the PIAA.

The superintendent, Shane Murray, also characterized the situation as absurd. He said it shows a lack of consideration for the schools that belong to the District 10 and the PIAA, which govern scholastic sports in northwestern Pennsylvania and statewide, respectively.

"In my opinion, this incident does not rise to the level of the threat of sanctions," Murray said in an Oct. 17 email to Pete Iacino, who chairs the District 10 Committee. "We are a member, not the enemy. Our core mission is education."

"The District X Board," Murray said in the email, "should not be using threats and intimidation tactics to encourage compliance and collaboration."

"This is all about respect for your members," he said in an interview.

Iacino said the District 10 executive committee's review board voted 6-0 to refer the matter to a hearing panel based on the Iroquois School District's decision not to file a self-report, as he said the Greenville Area School District did.

The case would be over if Iroquois had followed his directives on how to resolve the dispute, Iacino said in an interview. He said the District 10 Committee is carrying out what it is supposed to do: monitor and enforce the rules among its member schools, which pay dues. The District 10 Committee is based in Sharon and oversees sports in Erie, Crawford, Forest, Mercer, Venango and Warren counties.

"It is not about the violation," Iacino said. "It is about the totality of what occurred. If they had done what I had asked them to do, there would be no need for a hearing."

The hearing panel is scheduled to take up the case on Dec. 13 at the District 10 Committee's meeting at the Iroquois Club in Conneaut Lake, Crawford County. Iacino emailed a confirmation of the meeting to Murray and other Iroquois School District officials on Tuesday.

The Iroquois School District will get a chance to present its arguments at the hearing. Sanctions could include a warning, probation or a suspension for the Iroquois High School football program.

"I don't want to forecast on any of that," Iacino said.

A game meant to encourage student support

Iroquois was forced to play a game on Thursday night, Oct. 5, rather than on a Friday night or a Saturday, Murray said. He blamed the PIAA for creating the situation that led to a quirk in the schedule.

"We had to play on a Thursday night because of the lack of officials," Murray said in an interview. Instead of taking action against Iroquois over the "white out" game, he said of the PIAA, "Why don't they concentrate on getting more officials?"

Neither the 540-student Iroquois High School nor the 655-student Greenville High School were football powerhouses going into the game. Greenville was 0-6 at the time and would finish the season 1-9. It's only victory would be against Iroquois, which it defeated 35-0 in the "white out" game.

Iroquois was 1-5 going into the Oct. 5 game. It would also finish the season 1-9.

Getting students to attend the football games was difficult enough, given Iroquois' record, Murray said. With the game against Greenville to be held on a weeknight, he said, the district decided to come up with a plan to encourage attendance. He said the district settled on a "white out" game, in which Iroquois fans would be asked to wear white and the Iroquois players would wear white jerseys.

The Iroquois School District borrowed the "white out" concept from the Penn State football program, Murray said. The Nittany Lions hold one White Out home game a year in which the crowd is asked to wear white.

Murray said the district's sole reason for planning the "white out" game was to create more support for the Braves and "to promote school spirit."

"Why are you talking about sanctions?" he said of the PIAA. "It's not like we did it for any competitive advantage."

PIAA referee signed off on 'white out' game

The school district also got clearance from others to stage the "white out" game. According to emails the Erie Times-News obtained from the district under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, the Iroquois athletic director, Carl Zimmerman, received a request from the football coach, Manny Johnson, on Oct. 1.

"The players would like to wear all white this week," Johnson said in the email. "Just making sure that is possible."

Zimmerman emailed the Greenville athletic director, Benjamin Brunetta, on Oct. 2 and made him aware of the request.

"No objections from us," Brunetta responded that day.

Zimmerman then emailed one of the referees for the game, Darren DeFranco.

"Iroquois is planning on wearing all white this upcoming home game, unless there is an objection from the officials?" Zimmerman said in the email. He also said Greenville had signed off on the change.

"Sounds good," DeFranco responded in an email to Zimmerman on Oct. 2. "Thank you for the heads up. Just be on stand by if Greenville forgets to bring their dark uniforms then Iroquois will be required to wear their dark uniforms."

The game occurred three days later. Iroquois wore white jerseys. Greenville wore its dark blue jerseys. The referees officiated the game as it was any other.

Then the PIAA got involved.

Request to investigate game came from PIAA chief

The Friday after the game, Iacino, the District 10 chairman, got a call from the PIAA's executive director, Robert Lombardi, about the "white out" game, according to what Iacino said in an interview and according to a "notice letter" Iacino sent to Iroquois School District officials on Oct. 17. The Erie Times-News obtained the letter through its Right-to-Know request.

Iacino said Lombardi told him that the "white out" game was reported to Lombardi, and that the game violated the uniform rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The PIAA adopted the NFHS rules. No one asked the PIAA to modify the NFHS rules for the "white out" game, Lombardi said, and he asked Iacino "to deal with the matter," according to Iacino's Oct. 17 letter.

Lombardi declined to comment for this story. "District 10 Committee is handling this situation," he said in an email.

Iacino declined to comment on whether the officials at the game were called into a disciplinary hearing for allowing the teams to switch jerseys.

"We did deal with the officials," he said.

DeFranco, the official who signed off on the uniform change, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Also on Oct. 6, the Friday after the "white out" game, Jim Come, the District 10 Committee treasurer and its school boards representative, emailed athletic directors in District 10. The subject of the email: Uniforms.

"It has been brought to the attention of the District 10 Committee that schools have held whiteout games at home events," according to the email. "It is extremely important for each athletic director to know that at no time are schools permitted to mutually agree to override a NFHS rule.

"Example: NHFS football rules require the home team to wear dark jerseys, therefore the home team would not be permitted to wear white jerseys. PIAA registered officials would not be able to grant a waiver to a NFHS rule."

And on Oct. 6, Iacino telephoned the athletic directors for the Iroquois and Greenville school districts. According to his Oct. 17 letter, he told the officials that the "white out" game was a violation "and to report back in writing the circumstances that lead to the violation and steps to be taken not to repeat the violation."

Greenville complied, Iacino said.

Zimmerman, the Iroquois athletic director, responded to Iacino's requests in an email on Oct. 6.

"My superintendent has directed me not to file the requested self-report document on last night's 'white out' game," according to Zimmerman's email. "We have reviewed the PIAA bylaws along with the District 10 handbook and do not feel we were in violation of any rules.

"Additionally, the jersey swap was approved by the officials and accepted by the opposing school head of game. Furthermore, Iroquois followed the advice of the officials and had our dark uniforms on hand had the Referee, or his crew, made the determination that the uniforms were illegal and needed to be switched."

Zimmerman asked Iacino to contact Superintendent Murray if he had any questions.

Iacino called Zimmerman back that day. Zimmerman recounted the conversation in an email he sent to Murray on Oct. 17.

"Mr. Iacino contacted me again regarding the email I sent on behalf of the district," Zimmerman said in that email. "He told me, in a rather threatening tone, the following: I was making a mistake, I needed to self-report, I needed to talk to my superintendent about this, that we would lose and get sanctions, and this wasn't the thing I would want to do in my young AD career.

"I told Mr. Iacino, respectfully, I was given a directive by my superintendent and would not go against it. I told him he should follow up with Mr. Murray. He again told me to talk to my superintendent."

Iacino, in an interview, said "I didn't threaten him," referring to his conversation with Zimmerman.

"I just said you don't want to do it this way," Iacino said. "There wasn't a threat. What kind of threat was I going to make?"

Two sides dig in on how to deal with 'white out' game

The Iroquois School District stuck by its position. So did the District 10 Committee.

In his Oct. 17 "notice letter," Iacino told the Iroquois School District that the District 10 executive committee's review board had voted 6-0 to send the case to a District 10 hearing panel. Iacino said the panel would consider imposing sanctions because Iroquois High School violated the uniform rule, failed to acknowledge the violation and "failed to submit a required report."

Murray responded in an email that same day. The email included his comments about how the "incident does not rise to the level of the threat of sanctions."

Murray also said in the email: "We have acknowledged a violation of the Uniform Color Rule. We will not violate this rule again. Mr. Zimmerman's email to you on Oct. 6th outlines the steps our district took so that we did not violate any policies, including working with game officials."

Murray called the email the District 10 Committee sent to member schools clarifying the uniform rule "a step in the right direction."

On Oct. 20, Iacino emailed Murray that the District 10 Committee had scheduled the disciplinary hearing for Dec. 13. Iacino confirmed the meeting in the email he sent to Murray and other Iroquois School District officials on Tuesday.

A hearing that neither side says they want

Heading into the hearing, Murray and Iacino at least agree on one point. They both said they wish the hearing would not have to occur — but for different reasons.

Iacino said he just wanted Iroquois to file a "self-report" and end the matter. Asked if he wanted the dispute to get to the hearing stage, he said, "Certainly not."

"These rules are for everyone," he also said.

Murray said a hearing should never have been scheduled. He said the Iroquois School District got what it believed were the required approvals for the "white out" game.

He said the District 10 Committee's email to the athletic directors showed that "white out" games are "a common problem." The Oct. 5 game was not an anomaly in District 10, Murray said, and he said the Iroquois School District should not be penalized for it.

"It doesn't make any sense," Murray said. "It is ridiculous that they are making an example of us and punishing us for something that was an innocent mistake."

Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Iroquois High threatened with PIAA sanctions over 'white out' game