Buffalo rivalry game ends with brawl involving teams and fans
In the course of a high school football game, it's not entirely unusual for a small skirmish to break out between teams. A fight that gets five minutes canceled in a competitive game, however, is another issue. That's precisely what happened in Buffalo, N.Y. on Friday, when South Buffalo rivals South Park (yes, just like that South Park) High School and Bishop Timon-St. Jude had nearly the final five minutes of a 28-14 Timon victory canceled by officials following a nasty free-for-all brawl.
According to the Buffalo News and WGRZ-TV, it took Buffalo police a full 15 minutes to quiet the raucous brawl you see above, in which a handful of fans ran from out of the stands to get in on a heated fight between the two teams. The fight followed a physical second half that broke up a 14-14 tie.
Bishop Timon was awarded the win, thanks to three rushing touchdowns from running back Andrew Marinaro.
The schools' proximity -- Timon and South Park are located on the same street within roughly two blocks from one another -- makes for a natural rivalry, but MetroWNY.com claimed there was no history of violence between the two teams.
That all ended Friday when the brawl began just before the start of the clip you see above. According to MetroWNY.com Associate Editor Matthew Ondesko, the fight kicked off when a South Park player booted a Timon opponent in the head after a play was whistled dead. By the time police could calm the situation down, both benches had cleared and fans from both programs were crowding their respective sidelines.
There's no telling what the fall-out from the incident will entail, but it's likely the two schools won't schedule each other again. Since Timon is a private Catholic school and South Park is a Buffalo public school, the two have no obligation to play against each other, despite their location.
Regardless of suspensions or other disciplinary action, the ending of that rivalry might be the biggest casualty of all from one of the uglier brawls this season.
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