Youth league - A melee ensues when the Molalla coach confronts the referee who ejected him from the girls basketball game

By Brent Walth

February 18th, 2008

The Oregonian

A basketball game between the Estacada Fury and Molalla Wildcats started like any other match between fifth- and sixth-grade girls Saturday. Parents cheered in the Estacada High School gym as the referees blew the opening whistle.

Before long, though, things got out of hand.

One referee, Houston Webb, a local high school player, ejected the Molalla coach, Jeffery Scott Larsen, after the coach continued to berate him over his calls. 

But Larsen, police say, refused to leave and accosted Webb after the game. Parents rushed the floor, some shoving followed, and players left in tears. Then the police showed up.

On Sunday, after further investigation, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office arrested Larsen, 34, and cited him with criminal trespassing in the gym after the referee had tossed him out of the game. State law says it's a Class C misdemeanor if an ejected coach refuses to leave the scene of a sports event. 

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