Comeaux High players were surrounding a North Vermilion player.
Comeaux High players were going after North Vermilion players after the hand shake.
In the middle of the Comeaux High players' crowd were North Vermilion players.
Trainers take care a North Vermilion football player who was injured during the fight.
End of North Vermilion/ Comeaux game turns violent during handshake
Update: The North Vermilion administration is looking for anyone who may have taken video of the fight after the game.
After a good game between the North Vermilion Patriots and the Comeaux Spartans, a post-game midfield handshake escalated into violence, resulting in two North Vermilion players being brought to the hospital.
After the Patriots won 36-29 in front of their homecoming crowd, the two teams completed the regular end-of-game routine and shook hands. However, during the handshake, a scuffle broke out at midfield, resulting in multiple fights between players from North Vermilion and Comeaux High.
The Sheriff’s deputies, coaches from both teams, and Superintendent Tommy Byler did their best to break up the fights.
After everyone was separated, the North Vermilion Patriots exited the field and headed to the gym, while the Comeaux players and coaches were escorted to their buses.
Two NV players remained on the field after the fights, both injured and taken to the hospital that night. They both returned home on Saturday.
Superintendent Byler wanted to avoid guessing what started the fights. He said that school officials would look at the film to see if it showed who started the fights and that those films would be turned over to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.
A Comeaux High assistant coach said that a fight allegedly broke out when a North Vermilion player, who was not in uniform, waved a towel during the handshakes.
The towel allegedly touched a Comeaux player as he walked past the North Vermilion player. This prompted the Comeaux player to allegedly confront the North Vermilion player, triggering multiple fights near the Patriots’ sidelines.
NV head coach Roderick Moy was upset by what happened.
“I can tell you this: Our kids did not throw the first punch,” said Moy as he walked to the gym. “For someone who always loses, they had a hard time taking a loss. They thought they were better than us.
“They came over here, and we were tougher and beat them. They could not take it.”