The fight between the two teams caused the game to end in the second quarter.
OSAA’s Executive Director Peter Weber says around 25 suspensions were handed out in total.
He said it’s extremely rare to see a game end early because of a fight.
Weber said, “this situation was a little bit different because we were dealing with some post-event ejections with the game being terminated.”
Less than a week after a fight ended a South Medford playoff football game early, we’ve learned a significant portion of the team will be suspended for Friday’s OSAA playoff game.
South will be down 16 players in their match up against North Salem at Spiegelberg Stadium.
“There were ejections for a couple students that were involved in the altercation and then both schools had students that were ejected for coming out of the team box,” Weber said.
Weber said there were around 25 suspensions across both teams for students that were either involved in the fight, or players that left the bench.
Weber said any players that left the bench and went on the field were automatically ejected, whether they were involved in the fight or not.
“We had a situation at a baseball game a couple years ago, with teams coming out of the dugout, very similar,” Weber said, “in baseball or softball, if you come out of the dugout in that situation, then it’s an ejection that comes with a suspension.”
Weber said he hasn’t seen an altercation on this scale, where OSAA has handed out this many suspensions.
South Medford has 55 players on their online roster, so losing 16, is more than 25% of the team.
“We’re obviously working with and relying on the schools and the officials involved in the contest to make what they think are the best decisions at the time given the situation,” Weber said, “but it is a pretty rare occurrence.”
NBC5 requested an interview today with the Medford School District, it declined.
South Medford’s playoff game against North Salem kicks off at 6 p.m. at Speigelberg Stadium, Friday.
If they win, those suspended players will be eligible to play in the next round.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.