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11-5A committee agrees to discipline plan offered in wake of DeSoto-Mesquite Horn brawl

The District 11-5A executive committee unanimously accepted discipline plans offered by DeSoto and Mesquite Horn on Tuesday, accepting self-imposed suspensions of five players and DeSoto coach Claude Mathis following a fight that took place during Friday's 61-47 DeSoto victory.

Four DeSoto players, Mathis and one Mesquite Horn player were ejected following a fight that took place near the DeSoto sideline. According to reports, a DeSoto player was flipped over following the end of the play and was injured. The officials called an injury timeout, and Mathis came onto the field to plead with officials. The brawl started soon after a Mesquite Horn player approached Mathis.

Mathis has removed himself from practice this week and will not attend DeSoto's game against Mesquite on Friday.

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He read a letter of apology to the committee:

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"We hope our fans can forgive us of this transgression. We have grown through this experience and know each of us is truly sorry for our behavior," Mathis said.

Four DeSoto players will be suspended for Friday's game and receive extra conditioning as punishment; only two of those players were actually ejected from the Horn game. Upon review, DeSoto determined that two players were incorrectly ejected by officials; those players will receive no additional punishment. Two other players identified to be involved with the fight will serve suspensions, however.

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DeSoto will also suspend four players for one quarter for leaving the bench during the fight.

The Mesquite Horn player ejected for fighting will serve a one-game suspension and do added conditioning to make up for lost practice time, Horn coach Rodney Webb told the committee.

Webb noted to the committee that no Horn players left the bench once the fight started. Both coaches and athletic directors met Monday to "resolve any differences."