The Arkansas Activities Association upheld the ejection of 28 players Wednesday after a fight during a high school football game last week, a spokesman for the agency said.
As punishment, 11 athletes from Drew Central High School and 17 from Hampton High School must sit out the next four consecutive quarters of varsity competition, according to Derek Walter, assistant executive director for media relations at the Arkansas Activities Association.
The association ruled Friday’s game a “no contest” because less than one half was played. The fight broke out in the second quarter.
Walter said “emotions after a play” caused the on-field brawl between players at Drew Central stadium. Coaches and officials attempted to break it up, authorities said, but bench players and fans from both sides had already run onto the field and joined the fray.
Drew County Sheriff Mark Gober said two people were arrested during the skirmish. Deputies arrested 43-year-old Anthony Johnson after he refused to leave the field and proceeded to get in a fight with an Arkansas State Police trooper, according to an arrest report from the sheriff’s office.
He was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and taken to the Drew County jail, where he remained until Tuesday, when he was released, Gober said.
The report states that Johnson’s wife, Tomika Johnson, tried to intervene and said she was going with her husband.
Gober said she was taken to the Drew County jail on charges of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and criminal trespassing and was released later that night
