California high school football game stopped early after crowd runs onto field

Game between El Cerrito at Oakland Tech ended only two minutes into the second period
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Another high school football game wasn’t completed on the field because of disturbances in the stands. 

According to a San Jose Mercury report, a nonleague game in California between El Cerrito at Oakland Tech was called early in the second quarter after a 'commotion" in the stands caused fans to run onto the field.  

Oakland Athletic League commissioner Franky Navarro confirmed the report that players from both teams returned to their locker rooms unharmed and that the stands were cleared. 

El Cerrito led 6-0 at the time. 

“I’m still checking with both principals and school superintendent on how to proceed,” Navarro said.  "I also need to check in with the game officials."

Oakland Tech princial Martel Price contacted parents of the school's students in an email, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, and wrote that it was the second altercation to break out on campus that night, thus the game was called and campus cleared.

The conflict apparently spilled onto a nearby street.

“It goes without saying that this behavior is absolutely unacceptable,” Price wrote in the email. “The cancellation of the game took away from our student-athletes’ experience, and the experience of our families and friends, and the visiting team from El Cerrito High.”

It's a growing trend throughout the country.

Over the last two years, games have ended early due to either altercations on the field, in the stands or parking lots in Phoenix, Ariz., Dallas , Fresno (Calif.), Union County (N.C.), Savannah (Ga.), Kalamazoo County (Mich.) and Charleston (S.C.).

And that's likely just a small sample size.


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