Manasquan Mom Gives Video: Footballers Accused Of Knocking Wall Band

MANASQUAN, NJ — For decades now, the Wall-v.-Manasquan football game is played on Thanksgiving Day. And every November, it's an exciting final game of the season for teens and families in both Jersey Shore towns.

Except this year, two Wall Township parents said the Manasquan High School varsity football players "ran through" and knocked down the Wall High School marching band in the middle of their pre-game performance, in an attempt to force the band to end early and get the game started.

Parents were also cursing members of the Wall HS marching band, telling them to "get the f— off the field," said one mom.

"What I witnessed was basically assault," said Brian Harris, 49, father of a 14-year-old freshman in the Wall marching band. "Teenage girl flag twirlers were knocked over by high school football players. At least two parents I spoke to on site said they talked to police, and they want to file charges."

On Saturday, Harris clarified to say that he did not personally witness any kids being being knocked over, but that he did see kids pushed into. However, at least one Manasquan parent, a mother, disputes this account of what occurred, and provided this video of Manasquan entering the field:

The morning of Thanksgiving Day was miserable: Wet, cold rain pummeled the entire state. But — as was the case for many Shore towns yesterday — the big game would go on.

"The game was at Manasquan this year and the away-team band (in this case Wall) always performs on the field before the game," said Harris. "It was raining so hard we weren't even sure the Wall band was gonna play. I was standing on the sidelines texting my son, asking 'Are you guys gonna come out?'"

At 10:51 a.m., the marching band walked onto the field. They would play an 8-minute set; the game was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. sharp. The rain actually started to taper off.

Five minutes into the performance, Harris said Manasquan football players, yelling and whooping, ran through their banner and out into the field.

"They ran through our band kids while they were playing their instruments," he said. "Their players deliberately knocked into and pushed our kids down to the ground. Teenage girl flag twirlers were knocked down by football players. One kid has bruises. At least two parents I spoke to on site said they talked to police, and they want to file charges."

"They weren't even done yet; they were in their second song," said Stephanie Kolber-Sorathia, a Wall Twp. mother of a teenage girl who plays flute. "It was astounding. My daughter told me a kid carrying a sousaphone whacked his head on the back of the sousaphone because he was knocked into from behind by a Manasquan football player. My daughter came over to me crying that adults were yelling at them to get the f— off the field. Parents were yelling at them that they needed to end their set."

"This is how the band kids show their school spirit — and this is how they are treated," she added.

She said she fumbled to take her phone out to record video of what was happening, but — "It all happened so quickly. Within a minute, it was over."

The band performance actually was then cut short so the game could start. Harris said he "personally witnessed someone from the Manasquan side walk up to our band director and say 'This has to end.' I saw him give the throat slashing sign to our band director."

Harris said he never saw a coach or adult from Manasquan admonish the teens.

"This was actively encouraged by the adults on the other side," he said. "Manasquan had the attitude of, 'This is our territory and we're gonna kick the band off the field because the game is about to start.' Nobody pulled the Manasquan players together and said, 'Guys, what you just did was wrong.' All these coaches who are supposed to be teaching our boys to be good young men did the exact opposite."

"It was a public display of bullying, is what it was."

Neither the Manasquan or Wall football teams, or the two school districts, released a public comment about what happened. Patch emailed Manasquan school superintendent Robert Goodall, athletic director Donald Bramley and Manasquan head football coach Jay Price to get their side of the story, and none got back to us by end of day Friday.

Harris said he may file a complaint with the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA), which regulates New Jersey high school sports.

Harris said he will not drop the issue "until our band gets an apology."

"What happened is horrendous," he said. "The adults need to be held accountable."

Manasquan mother tells what she saw, and provides video

What follows are comments from one mother of a Manasquan varsity football player, who provided the above video to Patch but did not give her name, identifying herself only as "ShoreMama" over email.

(This) "has been sorely misrepresented by a few parents of Wall Township," she began. "The headline 'Manasquan Football Players Knocked Over Wall Marching Band' is blatantly false. As you can see in the video, the team walks through the performance and not one band member is knocked over ... While they certainly walked through the performance, you can see that not one person is knocked over or hurt in any way. It is shameful that parents used terms like 'assault' to describe the situation."

The mother also said that the referees told the teenage boy football players to enter the field, and the boys simply followed commands.

"The referees are the ones responsible for telling the teams when to enter the field. First they went in and got the visiting team, Wall (who is on their sideline having already run on to the field at the time of the video)," she said. "Then they went in and got the home team, Manasquan. The players did as they were instructed by the officials. You can even see one official run onto the field towards the far sideline outside of the banner at the beginning of the video just before the team (he was the one that told the team it was time to enter). Also, it is considered a delay of game penalty if the football team does not come out to the field when told by the referees. The head referee (in the white hat) realizes that the entrance could potentially be an issue and tries to to stop it, but the players are already through the banner and on the field at that point. In the chaos and noise of their own band and cheers, there was no way the boys heard or saw him. You can see the boys on the team realize the band is on the field as they circle to their sideline and they all come to a stop and walk slowly through the procession."

What about parents yelling at Wall Township kids to "get the f— off the field?"

"As far as accusations that parents were yelling at them to get off the field, the video can neither prove or disprove that, but as someone that was on the sideline I can say that I did not hear that happen," said the Manasquan mother. "The players walked through the band and stood awkwardly on the sideline waiting for the performance to be over. At the end of the day, there was certainly failed coordination between the game supervisor, referees, Wall band and Manasquan football team and it led to an awkward situation for the kids involved, but to suggest that players be charged for assault and people be fired from their job over this is ridiculous. The Manasquan team felt bad that they walked through and interrupted the show, but they are ultimately kids and had no malicious intent in doing so. At the end of the day, it was an accident."

Manasquan won the Nov. 28, 2024 game, 13-7.