And finally, the announcer asked several times that fans stay in the stands so the next game could start on time, but Jordan fans ran onto the field and then dumped two buckets of ice that had sticky liquid in it requiring the turf be cleaned before the next game could begin. Security was such an issue that Juan Diego, which hosted the 4A and 5A championship matches, had to enlist extra security personnel to deal with the issues.

Dixie principal Craig Hammer was at the game where the Flyers were involved in the unsportsmanlike behavior, and said he agreed with the penalty imposed. He hoped that fans, parents, players and coaches viewed the probation as an opportunity to get a grip on behavior that is marring the sport's reputation.

"I hope they'll understand it's just a game," Hammer said. "It's not life and death. We need to be civil and respectful to all people. That's my biggest thing to be respectful and civil to all people, but especially to referees. They're doing the best they can do and not getting paid much to do it."

Several principals wondered if the high number of coaches who work outside the school was part of the problem. However, Hammer said one of the best coaches he'd had was a paraprofessional, so he's not sure that's the problem either.

"I don't know why the soccer mentality is the way it is," Hammer said.

The principals acknowledge it will be difficult to punish players, especially seniors, and/or their parents without the support of coaches.

Lee Mitchell has coached at Alta since 1983 and he wasn't surprised with the actions taken by the UHSAA in Monday's meeting.

"My personal feeling is that they should punish the schools that are having the problems," he said. "If that's Alta then so be it."

He has meetings with his parents and players to discuss sportsmanship, which may be happening at a lot of other schools next year. Executive Director Evan Excell will send a letter to every administrator and soccer coach addressing what the committee sees as a critical issue. Mitchell said it might seem soccer fans are worse than other sports because they're often right on the sideline of the game and have access to officials and opposing players and coaches.

With a lot of turnover among soccer coaches, Mitchell said many may not know that soccer has been on probation before and actually went from a 20-game season to 18 games until just a few years ago when they earned those two games back.

"If the ejections are that high, I understand," he said, of the probation.

Of those 111 players and coaches ejected, 38 were for soft red cards, which means they were ejected after receiving two yellow cards in a game. The executive committee also voted to change the ejection rule as it relates to soft red cards so that they only miss the remainder of the game they're playing in when they receive the soft red card and not an additional game. When a player gets a hard red card, usually for unsportsmanlike conduct, he automatically misses an additional game.

In other action at Monday's meeting:

• The Executive Committee voted to approve adding girls golf as a spring sport.

• They voted to change the rules governing the judges at music, drama and speech festivals. Judges will now be required to sign forms about their criminal history and no adult will be allowed to judge a student alone.

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E-mail: adonaldson@desnews.com