What to Know
- Eight football players from a Long Island high school have been suspended after a massive on-field brawl during a Friday night game.
- Cellphone video shows punches flying along the Mount Sinai High School sideline Friday night. The football fight came in the fourth quarter of a 42-point loss to Bayport-Blue Point High School.
- The Mount Sinai District says the suspensions came after a proactive investigation, but some question if a one-game suspension is enough for an incident like this.
Eight football players from a Long Island high school have been suspended after a massive on-field brawl during a Friday night game.
NBC 4 New York obtained video of the fight that broke out at the end of Friday's game at Mount Sinai High School.
Cellphone video shows punches flying along the Mount Sinai High School sideline Friday night. The football fight came in the fourth quarter of a 42-point loss to Bayport-Blue Point High School.
Although, the game was immediately halted and it remains unclear what sparked the brawl.
"You play football for a reason. You put pads on and keep it between the lines. There is absolutely no excuse why fists should be thrown especially at a high school game," a former Mount Sinai grad told News 4.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
The grad’s comments were echoed by the Bayport Blue Point District which called the incident unfortunate.
News
After the game, Mount Sinai Schools suspended eight unidentified players: seven for one game and one for multiple games.
"The kids are very well behaved up here and it’s kind of an aberration," Jerry Marino, a Mount Sinai resident, said. "I’m not sure what happened."
The Mount Sinai District says the suspensions came after a proactive investigation, but some question if a one-game suspension is enough for an incident like this.
"Zero tolerance for that, but a day is really, what is that going to do?" Joe Cipolla, of Miller Place, Long Island, said. "I think it should be more than that."
Mount Sinai Schools did release a statement saying: "The District and Athletic Department support healthy, safe participation in all athletic events while displaying good sportsmanship on the part of all athletes at all competitions."
"I did play football so i know emotions run high. I think just a one-game suspension is extremely fair, fair to be honest," the Mount Sinai grad who spoke with News 4 said.
No Bayport-Blue Point players were suspended as a result of the fight. Curiously, the agency that oversees high school sports in Suffolk County says it was not involved in the disciplining of players because the referees at the game didn’t formally eject any of those players after the fight.
