WPIAL Executive Director Tim O'Malley talks to the PG's Mike White about the penalties placed on the Jeannette and North Catholic boys' basketball teams after a fight between the two last Saturday.

The WPIAL penalized North Catholic and Jeannette for their participation in a fight after their PIAA quarterfinal game last Saturday at Hempfield. No Jeannette players were suspended for tonight's PIAA semifinal game.

Among the penalties assessed by the WPIAL Board of Control, players and coaches from both schools must attend anger-management and conflict-resolution classes. Also, North Catholic coach Dave Long and Jeannette coach Jim Nesser must attend a coaching education class by the end of the school year.

The athletic programs at both schools also were placed on two years' probation. That means any sports teams at Jeannette and North Catholic that behave in an unsportsmanlike manner could lose the right to compete in postseason games.

Here are some of O'Malley's comments.

On why no players were suspended: "Everyone knew there was a physical confrontation, but it couldn't be established concretely who started it or who participated in it. That was what our board struggled with. You cold not substantiate, even in testimony, who was responsible for starting it and who was involved in it.You couldn't establish guilt or who was more culpable than anyone else. Because they were both equally guilty, it was the consensus of the board that they should be equally held accountable."

On why all sports teams at both schools are on probation: "The board felt strongly enough that this deviation from what is acceptable behavior is severe enough that it should impact their whole [sports] program."

On whether the penalties are severe enough: "Some of those things were pretty severe. If they don't do what they are supposed to, they will violate the probation. We felt the anger management and conflict resolution workshops were needed with these kids and the things that they were doing."

On anger-management class for players: "I'm not sure if we've ever sent anyone to anger-management classes."