Bell Coach Suspends 5 Players for Rest of Season

Ray Galarze, Bell High football coach, suspended five players for the rest of the season after police found them attending a party off campus during school hours, where alcohol was being served.

Quarterback Omar Rodriguez, tailback Bobby Sullivan, fullback Rene Ramirez, linebacker Tony Hernandez and linebacker Israel Moreyra did not play in Friday’s regular-season finale at Jordan. They also will miss the City playoffs, beginning next Friday.

The players, all starters, apparently skipped school last Tuesday to attend the party with other Bell students, according to Galarze. Bell police responded to a disturbance call and found the players, Capt. Steve Webber said.

Galarze said he was at the school when the players arrived.

“I could tell they had been drinking by the way they looked and smelled,” Galarze said. “They also admitted to me that they had been drinking.”

Rodriguez, 17, Sullivan, 18, Ramirez, 18, and Hernandez, 18, also were suspended from school for either one or two days, according to school officials. Moreyra, 18, was not suspended because his scholastic track was not in session at Bell, a year-round school.

Bell was named the top-seeded team in the Division 3-A playoffs at a district athletic meeting Tuesday night. The Eagles, who did not make the playoffs last year, had already won the Southeastern Conference title. Friday, they defeated Jordan, 35-0, improving their record to 9-1 overall.