Alligator puts a stop to high school’s lacrosse practice, Florida video shows

One of Florida’s rascally alligators showed up during practice on a high school lacrosse field in Tampa, resulting in a video that has people laughing on social media.

It shows the Alonso High School Ravens boys’ team smartly waited on the sidelines as the alligator waddled across their field.

Alonso Lacrosse shared the video Feb. 23, and added to the humor by pairing it with Run-DMC’s “Walk This Way” featuring Aerosmith.

“Looks like it’s time for a new Team Award,” the team wrote on Instagram.

The young gator looked about 6 feet long and it covered 200 yards on campus before it went “behind the bleachers, and found a gap in the field’s fence,” WFLA reported.

It’s unclear where the reptile ended up, but the school is bordered by forest on three sides, and has a canal across the street that connects Rocky Creek to Tampa Bay.

Alligators grow to 14 feet in Florida and inhabit waterways, lakes and rivers in all 67 counties, the state reports.

The video had been viewed more than 13,000 times as of Feb. 27. Among the commenters were some who kidded the 4-1 team for surrendering the field so easily, and others who saluted them for holding their ground — from a safe distance.

Still others say the alligator should have been allowed to play or been made a mascot.

“At least they had a sense of humor about it,” Michael Richards wrote on Facebook.

“I guess a little snow on the field is not such a bad thing,” Braves Lacrosse Nation of New York wrote on Twitter.

This story was originally published February 27, 2023 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Alligator puts a stop to high school’s lacrosse practice, Florida video shows."