A Boca Raton high school athlete was suspended from school after he sucker punched another player during a play-off lacrosse match.
During the third quarter of Tuesday night's regional finals match up between the St. Thomas Aquinas Raiders and the St. Andrews School Scots in Boca Raton, St. Thomas defenseman Jake Champion was being escorted off the field by the referees because he punched a player during the game when he leveled St. Andrews attacker Jordan Todd.
"One of my teammates got punched and I was talking to another player, not trash talking, just talking, and then I turned around and before I know it, I get punched in the face and I'm down on the ground," Todd said.
He said the punch caught him totally off guard. Todd scored a few goals on Champion earlier in the game but he said it never got heated between them.
St. Andrews is the local powerhouse in high school boys lacrosse. They beat St. Thomas earlier in the year but losing is not something the Raiders do very often and they were down by 10 at the time with their season coming to an end. St. Andrews coach R.J. Dawson said he was most proud of how his players didn't respond to the sucker punch.
"Yeah, the guys in the bench they stepped back, they sort of huddled together, the guys on the field defensively they huddled together, the midfielders stayed to the side and just let the referees figure out the situation," Dawson said.
Todd laid on the ground for about 15 seconds after the punch, then he got up and walked back to his team which won the game and advanced to the next round. As for the sucker who punched him, he'll have the entire off season to think about the way his game ended.
"Lacrosse is a physical sport but punching, that's not part of the game and I really feel like there's no place in the game for that," Todd said.
St. Thomas Athletic Director George Smith released this statement to Local 10 Wednesday afternoon: "The St. Thomas Aquinas family is upset and saddened by the conduct of our student during the lacrosse game against St. Andrew's School, Boca Raton on May 1, 2012. We apologize to the HISAA, to the officials of the game, and to the St. Andrew's School player in question, team, parents and fans. Poor sportsmanship is unacceptable to our students, athletes and parents. The student has been suspended from school for the remainder of the week pending further disciplinary action by the Administrative Council."