I remember a fight between my old HS and an up and coming team that had participated in Football less than five years. Tempers flared, both benches emptied, and one of our coaches grabbed an apposing player who was hitting our punter with his helmet. It was on at that time, all of the coaches joined in when our HC was smacked in the head with a clipboard. Fists flew and at one point the two wrestling coaches were going at it on the ground. There was a small police presence that kept the fans at bay. Our coach finally took the team off of the field and refused to come back out when summoned. The whole temper of the game was building from the cheap shots administered during the first quarter of the game. There were a number of ejections on both sides before the fight erupted. To give you a little backstory there had been bad blood since the opening of the school back to 1966. I remember playing this school back in the 8th grade when equipment was not as good as it is today. I caught a forearm to the face over the top of the nylon face mask, which resulted in a broken nose. I came out of the game long enough to receive a cotton plug in each nostril. It was not uncommon to have your hands stepped or to be bitten on the bottom of a pile. Eye gouging was a common event when playing these guys. Our Center the next year was on the receiving end of a dirt bomb to the eyes from the NG. (ejection) Lots of flags flying and wolf tickets being sold. If there was a better cheap shot team out there I did not know about it !
Getting back to the fight, our principal begged our coach to bring the team back on the field and he refused, resulting in a 2 - 0 forfeit to the visitors. These actions started the ball rolling toward the eventual dismissal of our head coach several years later. After the fight the school board was building book on coach. The fight coupled with several losing seasons, alleged kick backs from vendors, and angry boosters got his ticket punched. With the multiple ejections I do not understand why the game was not suspended prior to our team leaving the field.
