The scourge of violence in high school football games continued apace on Friday, when a heated, early season Florida football game concluded in a blowout, leading to a dangerous altercation between players, coaches and a team's fans in the stands shortly thereafter.
In a game in which Naples (Fla.) High was out to prove that it could outdo area rival Immokalee (Fla.) High, the Golden Eagles jumped out to a dominant lead en route to a one-sided, 55-29 blowout. However, as the Naples News reported, it was after the game wrapped up that things got truly interesting.
According to the Florida paper, which also captured the video of the incident you see above, Immokalee players and coaches decided that they'd had enough when the game's final whistle sounded. Rather than walk through the traditional postgame handshake line with their Naples rivals, some of the players and coaches leaped the fence and became embroiled in an altercation with their own fans.
A brief scuffle broke out, but it didn't last long enough to lead to any serious injuries. Still, it highlights the ever-spreading toll of unruly fan behavior and violent tendencies that have broken out across the country. Already in 2012 multiple games have been stopped because of gunfire at stadiums.
That was the case most recently in Chicago, where a game between Chicago (Ill.) Morgan Park High and Chicago (Ill.) Simeon High was suspended on Friday after a fight led to gunshots in the stands.
None of these incidents are signs of the apocalypse, but they also show just how out of touch many American prep fans are with reality, endangering things that are much, much more important than football, all while jeopardizing the good name and safety of fans who hope to see a game in the process.
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