Glenville benched 29 players before regional semifinal against St. Ignatius

Bob Fortuna, Plain Dealer Reporter, November 12, 2008 11:52 a.m.

Glenville football coach Ted Ginn Sr. suspended 29 players after they missed practice on Election Day. - (Thomas Ondrey / The Plain Dealer)

With a Division I regional semifinal against top-seeded St. Ignatius just four days away last week, Glenville football coach Ted Ginn Sr. suspended 29 players from the game for missing last Tuesday's practice.

"Call it a life lesson," said Ginn.

School was closed Nov. 4 because of the presidential election.

"We told the players we were still having practice even though there wasn't school," Ginn said. "Come Tuesday, 29 players didn't show up for practice, so we suspended them on Wednesday. They were told they couldn't participate in practices or dress for the game."

Ginn, still baffled by the no-shows, would not say which players were suspended but said none were starters. He also refused to blame Glenville's 8-7 loss to St. Ignatius on missing players.

"No excuses, although I still don't know why some of the guys failed to show up for practice on that day," said Ginn. "Maybe the game wasn't that important to those guys but we, as coaches, did what we had to do. We had no choice. It was the order of business, but I'll tell you this much. They won't ever do that again."