Look: Pittsburgh high school football game turns ugly in final moments

Pennsylvania league investigating video footage of a fight on sidelines between Imani Christian Academy, Steel Valley players

A Pittsburgh high school football game turned ugly in the final minute on Friday when several players from each team got into an altercation.

According to multiple reports and witness video posted to social media, a Steel Valley (Pennsylvania) defender tackled an Imani Christian Academy player out of bounds into the Imani sidelines and a fight ensued as the clock ran out in a 17-6 Steel Valley win.

A video posted to social media of the incident shows a Steel Valley player appear to body-slam an Imani player as several players from each team traded punches and shoves while coaches' efforts to break up the fight were not immediately successful. 

Imani coach LaRoi Johnson told his players the instigators of the fight will be suspended for the rest of the season, according to Pittsburgh Sports Now, and potentially expelled from school.

Both coaches told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review nobody was injured in the skirmish. Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Executive Director Scott Seltzer told Tribune-Review reporter Chris Harlan the league is investigating video from school administrators. 

One witness account posted to Twitter shows a 20-second screen recording of an apparent snapchat story in the middle of the brawl.

I was at the game. Imani was flagged numerous times for personal fouls. Steel Valley’s coaches kept the team from going across the field to make it worse. If you notice in the video it was the Imani team vs 2 Steel Valley players who were just on that side of the field.

— Russel Gill (@jreg7302) September 17, 2023

“I’m trying to think of how I could word this," four-star junior linebacker Dayshaun Burnett told Pittsburgh Sports Now after the game. "Just, it was a tough loss. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

The brawl is the latest in a string of high school football skirmishes this fall. On Saturday, tensions boiled between sidelines after a hard hit in the final seconds of Kahuku (Hawaii)'s historic upset of national No. 2 St. John Bosco (California).

In Week 1, a brawl ended Buford (Georgia)'s shutout of nationally ranked St. Frances Academy (Maryland).