For nearly an hour Monday night, Pine-Richland student-athletes, families and other members of the community made their voices heard.
But most did so without saying a word.
On Wednesday, Pine-Richland High School football coach Eric Kasperowicz was informed by the school’s administration that his job would be opened and the he and his entire coaching staff would not be re-hired.
While no direct reason was provided by the school's administraton, reports of an internal investigating into claims of hazing and bullying came to the forefront.
The news caused a backlash across social media, sparking protests and demonstrations.
The most recent was Monday night’s six-minute silent protest on the youth football field at Richland Township Park that drew hundreds of district residents.
“A lot of these high school players that you saw tonight got their start here, they have younger siblings that are here and we wanted to show our support for what we believe in, and that’s ‘Coach K’ and his crew,” said Kelly Huffman, the board President of Pine-Richland Youth Football and Cheer.
“(Kasperowicz’s) number one concern is making them good students and good young men. The fact that there are so many different sports (represented) here and people that aren’t even involved in football that support him, I think that says everything that you need to know.”
Some of those in attendance were families of current varsity football players. But many more appeared to be families of younger children in the district.
“It was great to see everyone come out," said junior football player Jeremiah Hasley. "These are people of the community, not just the football community. We have all of the youth kids and they’re here because they want to support 'Coach K' and want to be coached by 'Coach K' in the future.”
Before the silent protest — which lasted six minutes to represent the number 6 that is given to the Rams’ football player that displays selflessness — the crowd heard from Joel Sansone, the attorney for the family of Pine-Richland sophomore Dante Cruz.
The Cruz family believes their son — and the family’s past claims of bullying against him — are being used as a pawn by the district’s administration to oust the football coach.
“One of your players is suffering greatly today because your administration has allowed him to suffer under the wake of the accusation that he is responsible for the firing of Coach K,” Sansone said over a loudspeaker, noting that the family was not present at the event.
“I’m here to tell each and every one of you that you are being lied to by your administration. The villain here is Brian Miller. Brian Miller is trying to harm your community to help himself.”
Miller is the Superintendent of School for Pine-Richland School District.
“There has to be change, Huffman said. “One thing that certain members of this administration and of this board have proven to the people that chose to be here tonight is that the kids aren’t their best interest. That’s what we elect them to do… There needs to be a change in the board.”
Kasperowcz has had tremendous success as the program’s coach, winning 85 games, four WPIAL championships and two PIAA titles in eight seasons as head coach. His team won the 5A state title just five months ago.
“I hope that we get our coaching staff back, our whole coaching staff," Hasley said. "Hopefully they get their justice and then we get the Cruz family justice.”