Pezzimenti says he won’t return to play for Tidwell

By ROB NUNLEY / Sports Editor for the Southern Standard (McMinnville, Tenn.)

During his halftime speech Friday night, WCHS head coach Gerald Tidwell threw a helmet, which struck junior fullback Mario Pezzimenti, shown in action against Centennial from this year’s season opener.

After leading his team in rushing yards through the first half of Friday’s game, fullback Mario Pezzimenti saw his night end early because of a halftime incident which left him not only injured and angry, but determined he would no longer play for coach Gerald Tidwell’s team.

During Tidwell’s halftime speech, Pezzimenti suffered a severe cut when a helmet thrown by Tidwell struck him in the head.

“Coach, when we went in at halftime, was yelling, and saying how we were all gutless,” Pezzimenti recalled Saturday. “He was picking up things and throwing them. He threw a towel, and a helmet, and was looking for something else to throw.

“He picked up another helmet, and threw it, and it hit me.”

The junior, who had carried the ball nine times for 38 yards in the first half, did not return to the game in the second half, and was taken to a local hospital for tests which reportedly included a CT scan and X-rays, which indicated he had not suffered a concussion or any fractures from the incident. He did, however, need 10 stitches to close the cut.

Pezzimenti, who said he didn’t feel the helmet was thrown at him on purpose, said immediately after the incident Tidwell came to him to apologize, and then addressed the rest of the Pioneer players.

“I remember when I got up, he sat down beside me and I remember hearing him say something about if you guys aren’t with me, I’ll resign, but if you’re with me you’ll stand behind me,” he said. “I was pretty mad.”

When the rest of the team took the field for the third quarter, Pezzimenti said he remained in the locker room while trainers worked on closing his cut, and noted he was especially upset with what he felt was a lack of communication between WCHS coaches and his family in the stands.

“They kept me in the back, and when they went out to play the second half, they didn’t tell my mom what happened,” he said. “It seemed like they were just going to try to hide it, to seal up this big gash in my head, and send me back out.”

After being told about the halftime incident, Pezzimenti’s mother joined her son in the locker room, then accompanied him to the hospital.

Tidwell said during an interview early Saturday morning that he planned to meet with Pezzimenti and his family. But, at the time he was contacted by the Southern Standard Saturday, Pezzimenti said he had not yet heard from the coach, and added he was determined he would no longer play for someone he said didn’t practice what he preached.

“He’s always talking about discipline, but he didn’t have the discipline to keep his anger under control,” Pezzimenti said of Tidwell. “And to me, what he did by not going out and telling my mom was kind of gutless, after he had just called us gutless in the locker room. So I don’t think I can play for somebody like that.”