At halftime of an Akron (Ohio) Public Schools football game on Oct. 2, school officials made the decision to cancel the remainder of the game due to excessive fights between spectators inside and outside Ellet’s Joseph B. Yost Stadium.
According to Yahoo Sports, coaches and student-athletes from Buchtel High School and Firestone High School were inside the locker rooms and not involved in any of the fighting. At halftime, Buchtel was winning 20 to zero and was declared the winner.
"For the safety and security of everybody in the facility, it was deemed the best solution at this time was to call the game,” said Akron Public Schools coordinator of athletics Tom Mckinnon. “There was a fight in the stands and then it just continued outside of the stadium. No players or coaches were involved."
Several Akron Police Department squad cars responded to the scene, but only one person was arrested in connection with the fights. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, the perpetrator was a 15-year-old spectator who has not been named. It is not known which school the 15-year-old attends.
"Just a bunch of chaos out there," Buchtel coach Bryan Williams said. "In the stands, I think there were a bunch of fights. With the mace, and the police being called and being out there, they called the game. The refs told us to stay in [the locker room]."
With Buchtel declared the winner, the team moved to 2-0 in the Akron City Series. Historically, the Buchtel-Firestone rivalry has been as one-sided as Friday’s game results. Since 1964, Buchtel has won 51 games against the Griffins and lost 9 times.
