A college football referee was left with blood pouring down his face after getting caught up in a wild brawl between East Carolina and NC State on Saturday night.
Players began brawling in the final minute of East Carolina’s 26-21 victory in the Military Bowl after a Pirates receiver appeared to swipe a towel off the waist of a Wolfpack defender.
That moment sparked a melee with more and more players getting involved, and as the fight spread even an official managed to take a nasty hit.
The referee is said to have been struck by a helmet during the scuffle, with ESPN cameras showing the full extent of gruesome cut he sustained as a result.
He could be seen wiping away blood as it trickled down his face, before his fellow officials came to his aid and tried to get him cleaned up.
It took roughly a full minute to bring the situation under control, and around eight minutes before the ball could be snapped again for a final kneel-down.
A college football referee suffered a gruesome cut as players brawled on Saturday night
‘I’m embarrassed as a coach,’ NC State coach Dave Doeren said. ‘I know our players are, too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that.
‘To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there’s no excuses for it. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.’
‘Obviously, didn’t like the last little bit of the game,’ Pirates coach Blake Harrell said. ‘No place in sports for that.’
In the game itself, Rahjai Harris broke free for an 86-yard touchdown run with 1:33 remaining to hand East Carolina a pulsating 26-21 victory over NC State.
Harris had 220 of ECU’s 326 yards rushing, and his sensational sprint near the end of the game gave the Pirates (8-5) the lead back after they’d blown a 13-point advantage in the fourth.
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