Obviously the press release was written by Pete Saco himself. It is easy to see the arrogance and the subtle pot shots he is taking at Placer. How professional is this? Time for the CIF to do their jobs and acting as though they are untouchable.

Right on Frank!

Saco is a moron. Derail the playoffs? How about just moving it back a week? Give me a break. How does this man still have a job?

Possibly, the CIF could have considered the reprocussions of their decisions both with the original and the appeal, before they created this themselves. If they are going to be allowed to run over everyone, perhaps they should have an alternate plan in place for such an occasion

m davis PHS 1978.

Yeah,

SACO, SACO SACO - "a highly calibrated sequence of games" Saco must think he's in the field of rocket science, or maybe it's brain surgery. It's high school football for God's sake. Saco really has a habit of making veiled threats, and I believe that's what he's doing here. He's saying that he may cancel the playoffs (if the court rules against him). This is the way this guy has pushed the schools (and therefore the players) around for years. That's what he did when he called Mark Lee and told him he had screwed up (even though Lee didn't) He rules the roost by fear - kind of like Tony Soprano - Makes one wonder if the mob isn't involved in this mess? Maybe illegal gambling? Naw, just some ignorant and arrogant a-- looking for a way to make himself feel important.

The Pete-San-Saco Section at its absolute finest!!!!

What a condescending little PR!CK this guy is and always has been!!!!

I'm glad the folks at Placer took this course of action...the forfeits were unjustly handed down to begin with, and then unbelievably upheld during their appeal.

Your Authoritarian Rule of High School Athletics in our region has finally been challenged by someone, Saco...when all is said and done with this, you WILL lose and you and your cronies will finally be be exposed!!

What happened to Placer is the absolute TIP of the iceberg with this guy...Saco and his regime have a long history of making poor decisions and using bad judgement.

Hey, how 'bout this...after the judge overturns the forfeits, maybe he/she can flip a coin to see if Saco should keep his job!!!!

I just hope the judge puts pete in his place!

Getting the kids psyched up for their games, the season itself is like running down the field with the ball. Its all timed.

When the flow is disrupted by something like this, its the equivalent of someone running onto the field and in fact, can change the course of events.

Look at the Cubs/Marlins game a few years back where the Cubs were winning and a Marlin hit a ball foul with 2 outs, the left fielder ran to catch it and just as he almost finished the game, a fan reached out above his mitt and grabbed the ball.

The fans went silent. This was their shot and it got taken away.

The Marlin then proceeded to get a hit, driving in runs. The Cubs lost the season.

This has gone beyond mere whining and complaining about the rules after they were broken. NOW, other people have been damaged by that whining. Regardless of the outcome, the flow of play has changed and nobody knows how it has been impacted.

Poor sportsmanship by Placer. I

R_T....a disgruntled closet Cubs fan????

Go figure.........

I am not the biggest Pete Saco fan in the world, but I think he got this one right. Everyone wants to change rules after they break them. Just because a rule seems unfair or not the spirit of what it was meant for, doesn't mean it's not still a rule.

Putting everyone on hold so that Placer can have another appeal is ridiculous. What about all the other teams that followed all the rules? What about the athletes that play other sports? They have to go that much longer before they can join their winter sport.

It's not all about Placer and their 8-3 team that probably isn't going to get past the first round anyways.

Sure is not about the kids any longer is it? I mean ALL the kids and not just the Placer kids. I am embarrassed by Woodward, Montoya, Lee and the actions of the district. It is shameful to turn that bus around, what about all the kids on that bus and the ones waiting to play? There was a ruling and a appeal. Game over for Placer, now a court injunction? Our entire community will be scorned for this petty action by a few that just can't let go. Now this is how this team will be remembered.

Without question an extremely slippery slope.....

On one hand, the initial ruling, as well as the denied appeal by the CIF was incorrect, unfair and unjust....BUT, after the ruling was made (right, wrong or indifferent) and the playoff teams announced, the games should have gone forward as scheduled....period!!

This is not to say that the CIF's ruling should not have been challenged....it most definitely SHOULD be challenged, but NOT in order for Placer to replace Colfax as the PVL's #3 seed in the playoffs THIS year. The Court battle should have been a stand-alone issue challenging the legality of the CIF's decision to hopefully effect change in the future.......period!

The Colfax kids did nothing wrong.....their record, coupled with the CIF's ruling placed them in the playoffs...they prepared all week for a game they had every right to play in....for the Courts to step in and stop last night's game is a pitiful statement to our society and how we prioritize what is truly important...or at least what SHOULD be important.

Placer was unjustly stripped of 3 victories....the ruling that caused those forfeits is what needs to be challenged, but not for right now...for the future to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I feel for the players, coaches, parents and fans of both schools to be strung along day after day...not to mention for the kids down in Oakdale who, as someone else accurately mentioned, are now on hold and tasked with preparing for two different teams.

What a mess!!

I feel bad for those boys as well. They must have felt the same way Placer did that Thursday night when they were notified that all their hard work and wins were going to be taken away.

Something is not right and it's not the players and parents.

If I was a Colfax parent, I would be angry and would be trying to make sense out of all of this. There is one key fact which no one has mentioned and which I hope will direct the anger in the right direction: The CIF received written notice on THURSDAY morning - around 10:00am - that the National Center for Youth Law would be filing for a TRO the next day. Why didn't the CIF call Colfax's AD and Oakdale's AD to give them a heads up that there was a chance the game could get postponed? Why didn't the CIF do the responsible thing, the safe thing, and move the game to Saturday night instead? The reason is arrogance. The same arrogance the CIF demonstrated througout this ugly ordeal. Moving the game to Saturday night would have allowed everyone involved to see how the TRO turned out. If the court issued the TRO on Friday, the game on Saturday would have been cancelled and no one would have had to have gone through this mess. The Falcons would not have been on the bus. Parents would not have lost money on their room deposits. The CIF knew there was as potentail for all of that to happen when they were served with notice of the hearing on Thursday morning. Yet, they apparently called no one at Colfax to give them a heads up. Their arrogance would not allow them to even consider the possibilty a court would rule that their bylaws violate state law. If I was a Colfax parent, I'd want to have someone at the CIF explain why they didn't see any need to let Colfax know on Thursday there was a chance the game on Friday might get postponed.

Everyone's right; ths is a mess, and there are a LOT of innocent people who are being hurt, or at least inconvenienced. This is not even in Placer's hands...it's an advocacy group that is leading the charge now, despite with Pete Sacco's press release says. It's not being handled by the school.

It's no one person's fault. Sacco dealt with a very difficult situation last year at Franklin, handed down tough penalties, and then had to reel them back. He didn't create that situation but he got his hand slapped for being to harsh with the penalties. Without rules and sanctions, coaches will cheat. This year, with the Placer case, his staff worked to correct the paperwork violation very quickly so Placer's foster kid could play. Credit Mark Lee at Placer as being the only true stand-up guy in all this...admitting a mistake. But there's enough 'blame" to go around. Terry Logue, the CIF bylaws call for schools to handle this between themselves. Why didn't you call Placer, as you are supposed to, and find out the facts? The answer is because you didn't want to resolve a nagging question, you wanted a win for your school, and you didn't care who got hurt in the process. You had your AD elevate this to the section...the PVL commissioner didn't even know what was going on. Shame on Bear River for taking this approach in the first place. The kid was innocent, but YOU, BEAR RIVER, by going around Section bylaws, have set all this in motion. And now YOU are out of the playoffs. What have you left in your wake? Bad blood between Placer, Colfax and your school. How can that be a good thing? You want a win so bad that you would do that to others, and over a paperwork violation! Mark Lee would not have chosen that path. Nor would Colfax. But you have no class, and everyone at Bear River knows that.

I wonder why Colfax, given the fact that the Placer player is innocent, didn't lead the charge with other PVL schools who didn't make the playoffs to tell the Section that Placer should go. Placer handled all of them easily on the field, but a paperwork violation is what put you on the bus...not your performance on the field. Placer had wins of 46-20, 49-20, 41-19, taken away. Of their four losses on the field, three of those teams won first round playoff games and are moving to the second round of the playoffs. Only Bear River is out. Obviously Placer has a pretty good team that deserves a chance. They earned it on the field, beating Colfax at Colfax. And through all this...the innocent foster kid did not even play very many minutes!

And just as they were putting this behind them, an advocacy group, with no doubt a helping hand from some Placer law parents, is dragging them back into the fray. Terry Logue...sitting home with no team to coach...are you happy now?

Nice post Sportsmeiser, couldnt agree with you more!

m davis PHS 1978

I went onto to Maxpreps.com this morning, and on their front page they even had this story. Crazy

Sportsmeiser...I completely agree!

No matter the outcome...WE WILL GET THEM NEXT YEAR BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PHS 1987 ...3rd Generation Proud Placer Hillmen! (and my kids make it 4 generations)

Pride is FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!

Sportmeisere....who got the advocacy folks involved? This going to the courts is horrible, spending taxpayers money for this is lunacy. Placer fans supporting this avenue is embarassing to our town. BigJohn you are right let's go get it next year on the field.

The advocacy folks - the NCYL - are seeking to accomplish more than to simply get one playoff game matchup resolved. They will be seeking a court order to require the CIF to fix the bylaws so that they comply with state law. It is a state-wide issue, not a just a Placer issue, or Colfax issue, or Bear River issue. Rosa Parks was not the only kid in the South who had to sit in the back of the bus, but her protest is what triggered the broad sweeping changes in discrimination laws.

Placerfan...as I said in the last line, I'm sure the advocacy group is getting all the help they need from a few Placer dads. Not the kids, or the coaches, just a few dads. I'll bet the vast majority of Placer faculty and administrators wish this would have just died down, but I don't work there so I can't say for sure. This is a black eye for Placer and Bear River. And the kids from Placer. Colfax and Oakdale are caught in the middle. It should have been handled after the playoffs were over. Life isn't fair, move on.

But there is so much mis-information out there, and Bear River is ducking. I wish they would stand up and say something, like.... they wished they would have followed the rules too, and called Placer about the player, instead of going around Placer (and Section bylaws) to report it directly to the Section. Why is it that there is no penalty for breaking those section bylaws? Bear River has been victimized by some underhanded dealings in the past, so they should know better.

And a question for Sacco, since the player was eventually deemed legal and eligible, why not make that eligibility retroactive to the beginning of the year, and avoid all this mess! He's done nothing wrong, the coaches did nothing wrong, he is simply a foster kid, moving back to his home town to live with an aunt. Can you blame a foster kid for that? Why reward Bear River for breaking Section bylaws, and penalize an innocent kid and team? There ought to be a law...oh, turns out there IS a law. Such a harsh penalty for a well known and above-board transfer, just because the disputed paperwork was not filed. Wake up. You shot the wrong guy!

So what's next...Colfax parents suing to get their motel deposits back? Will this spill out onto the basketball court? Will three great communities hate each other for decades now? We all live and work together. Bear River...you have an opportunity to stand up and apologize to Placer and Colfax communities for starting this mess, and you can do a lot to heal the bad feelings. Take the high road, don't duck. Where are you?

Oakdale...this is the reward you get for having such a great season and winning your league! Hopefully a PVL representative will be playing you soon! Hang in there!

I'm not an attorney, so I don't know who pays for the case to be heard. I do know that no school district monies are involved, thank god.

I'm going to be rooting for Colfax or Placer, who ever goes to the game.

Sportmeiser....there you go again saying that it is so important to get the advocacy right for the foster kids but then saying it is Bear River's fault....it is not BR's fault if the CIF and state law does not jive. Come on who got the Placer dads all upset, could not have Montoya or Lee or O'Brien told the parents to let it go? Could they not have said let's not screw up kids from other area's let's just let the game be played and let the courts decide for next year whether or not the rules coincede? This STINKS of low life parents who don't care about who they hurt as long as there kid gets what "they deserve". It is appalling.

Placer fan... we agree about how parents can stink up youth sports. But I don't think it's fair to blame Placer's coaches and administration for the acts of the advocacy group, even if a few parents helped them out. Most of us feel this should have been handled later on.

The injustice was done by the CIF, Sac-Joaquin Section. If Placer had filed the papers, Bear Rivers complaint would have been rejected. So Placer could have avoided all this trouble. Their AD has admitted this mistake. He's human. So far, he's the only one I've heard admit any blame. He's a good example to our community...we all make mistakes, but do we take responsibility for them?

But when BR filed their complaint with the section, they knew what they were unleashing, and they did it anyway. Their intent was to use administrative mean to secure themselves a playoff spot, and they had Pete Sacco do their dirty work. A simple phone call to Placer would have cleared this up, but they didn't want it cleared up. I say their hands are dirty. Placer, and now Colfax have had to pay the price. And people are lobbing shots who don't know what they are talking about. Bear River is not well liked in Colfax to begin with, and they are not making any friends in Auburn. So my question is, will Bear River come forward and admit their mistake? So far they have said nothing. They break the bylaws, but hide in the bushes while lawyers argue, judges rule, buses get turned around, and lives get disrupted. I'd like to know if they are proud of their accomplishments. It's a reasonable request. Is the Auburn Journal afraid to ask the question?

SportMeiser -- I have a few comments for you. Regarding the post from 11/22 @ 2:11PM -- Are you serious regarding telling CIF to let Placer go to the playoffs? If Colfax did not go El Dorado would have went. What a few of you are still not getting is that CIF ruled against Placer the 3rd place position and it was given to Colfax. This is not a playground where you give up your turn on the slide. Let's go back a few years for you Placer fans when Placer won against Rocklin because of an INELIGIBLE player -- did anyone from Placer say "Oh you didn't mean to play an ineligible player". If they would have won a spot in the playoffs you bet they would have taken it! They would not have said "Oh thats ok let Rocklin go". We all know that Placer squeaked by Colfax that night. If you go back and watch flim it was a Placer player who touched the ball first on the onside kick - and the call came from an official that was 20 yards behind the play - and not Colfax -- but it is not Colfax's style to moan and groan about every call. We ACCEPT what is decided.

Another thing don't assume how Colfax is going to react to this. One thing that I learned from the Colfax Community is that they win and lose the same way -- With style and Respect for everyone. When things don't go our way we don't take everyone in the community down with us -- we move on. Martello and his coaching staff has his players, their parents, and the community's utmost respect and support.

So as far as suing for our room rates to be returned again I don't think that will happen, however, Friday's expenses did occur and who is responsible for that? Again Placer could not accept what was handed to them so they decide to bring down the whole community. You people cried all season about bad calls from the officials, cry about the defensive coaches, and, Cry about Bear River turn you in, Cry about Pete Sacco, now cry about you own mistakes. Thanks Placer!

fb1600....I love it when someone whines about a call (your touching of on side kick) and then says in the next sentence that your style is not to moan and groan... YOU JUST DID!! Then you say you don't think you will sue for the room rates....and then you say expenses did occur and who is responsible? Again YOU JUST DID!!

You can't say you won't do something right after you said it.

Placerfan -- just stating a fact -- look at film and you will see! Go back and look at articles regarding Placer's Football team and after almost every article there is a complaint about something! There was a great article written about the success of the JV team and the first comment fired out was a quick congrats and then complaints about the Frosh coaches. That did not belong with that article -- it should have been full of congrats for those kids and coaches but no. Look back at the articles written about Placer, even the wins, and Placer fans are complaining about something (Lincoln game great example). But again this is Placer's style.

As I stated before, we are not suing for the room cost I guess people will endure that. That was my response to SportsMeiser who was making assumptions about what Colfax fans will do next. My question was what about the expensive bus transportation/driver fee, Meals expense, and time taken away from school? What about Oakdale and the expenses they most definitely had? Do you know how time consuming and expensive it is to host a playoff game? I guess you wouldn't because Placer has not hosted on in a very long time.

Yep the Colfax way...with style and respect, just not seeing that in your posts.