HS football all-star game suddenly ends after insane brawl erupts
A high school football all-star game featuring the best players from Georgia and Florida ended abruptly Saturday night after a massive brawl broke out.
Florida was leading 16-0 in the third quarter when things got ugly.
“The thing that set everything off — one of the (Florida) receivers made a nice block one one of the players, and the player got up and didn’t like it, from Georgia, and threw a punch,” Jamael Stewart, the founder of the Florida vs. Georgia All-Star Game, told the Palm Beach Post. “That’s what opened everything up.”
VIDEO: There was just a MASSIVE brawl in the Florida Georgia HS All-Star Game. Punches thrown, players stomping other players. Game called in 3Q. Wow. pic.twitter.com/s2avZnmOL3
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) January 6, 2018
The game, played at Southern Crescent Stadium in Riverdale, Georgia, was contentious from the start and featured numerous penalties. Florida alone had 150 yards in penalties, according to the Palm Beach Post article.
“From the beginning, I think the refs could’ve done a better job of controlling it,” Stewart told the newspaper
“It was really chippy from the beginning, and a lot of the Florida players were coming to the ref, saying ‘they’re slapping us, they’re punching us.’ They report it to the refs, but nothing was happening,” added Stewart.
The FHSAA says it will not be looking into the game-ending brawl at the Florida/Georgia HS Football All-Star Game.
— Wells Dusenbury (@DuseReport) January 6, 2018
From that initial fight, scrums broke out all over the field. In one of them, a Georgia player had a Florida player on the ground and was punching him.
According to the Post article, there were no serious injuries from the brawl.
The game is in its sixth year, sponsored by Prep and Sports Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Delray Beach, Florida, whose mission is to help at risk kids prepare for college.
Football: Brawl breaks out at Florida vs. Georgia All-Star Game https://t.co/TmaxTmiPRD
— Linda Daggett (@daggett_linda) January 7, 2018
The game was broadcast on YouTube, but was taken down shortly after the brawl.
The game features some of the top scholar-athletes in the two states.
Stewart said he spoke to some of the Florida players after the game about the incident.
“I had a nice talk with them,” Stewart said of the participants. “No matter what happens to you, you just can’t react that way. I guess it was just emotions that got riled up.”
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