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Went to a fight and a football game broke out.

It's not as bad as I guess the sentence above makes it sound, but the end of the Rider-Denton Ryan game Friday night at Memorial Stadium was exciting on and off the field.

As Rider QB Shavodrick Beaver was trying to run the final second off the clock he scrambled back and started to go down as the first Denton Ryan defender reached him.

As Beaver went down a man on a mission from the other team decided he wanted to make a statement. He flew at Beaver as he was on the ground and hit him 2 to 3 seconds after the play and the game had expired.

Beaver gets up and starts a shoving match. I'll defend his actions because that was one of the worst cheap shots I've seen at a local high school football game.

Then both teams decide, after scoring a combined 67 points, that they finally wanted to get their noses dirty.

Everyone jumps in, the games over, but the fight has just begun. No punches were thrown, thank goodness, nobody needs to sit out a suspension, but many, many words were exchanged.

Then it got better.

Two coaches, one from Rider and one from Denton Ryan, started to exchange some words at the ceremonial handshake line. A lot of what was said was under the breath, but it appeared the Denton Ryan coach was at his limit.

I really wish I knew the names of the coaches that were about to go to jail that night. Would have made for a more interesting story Saturday morning. Misdemeanor assault charges all around.

Both teams had their fill I guess. It was a close game. It was played cleanly, so I don't know why the two teams were so testy besides the cheap shot at the end.

Then I find out after the game, from someone with Rider, that the coaches damn near fought at halftime as they were going to their respective locker rooms.

What a game. It had it all - a ton of turnovers, big plays, big hits and the possibility at the end of a couple of hay-makers.

In the end I'll say this. Rider has a lot of talent, a ton of talent. Eric Ward is a ridiculous playmaker. James Chambers hasn't met a tackle he couldn't make, and the offensive and defensive lines play with man size. Them boys are big.

Posted by Clayton Hein at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)