21 college football players suspended after game brawl

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference suspended 21 players who took part in a brawl on Saturday in the Norfolk State-South Carolina State game.

Eleven unnamed players from Norfolk State and 10 from South Carolina State will serve the suspensions by sitting out the 2015 season opener. Seniors with no remaining eligibility who took part in the altercation were not included in the suspensions.

The benches-clearing fight interrupted the game for 25 minutes in the fourth quarter after a South Carolina State touchdown.

Players began shoving each other during the extra-point attempt and then started throwing punching and kicking. The skirmish apparently was touched off when Norfolk State assistant coach Pete Adrian head-butted a South Carolina State player.

MEAC commissioner Dennis Thomas said “we don’t tolerate that kind of behavior.”

“It was just a very unfortunate situation,” Norfolk State athletic director Marty Miller said. according to The Virginian-Pilot. “But the idea is we don’t need to be engaged in those type of activities on the field.”

South Carolina State won 30-20.

Adrian retired from his job on Monday after 10 years at Norfolk State, but he had made the decision long before the brawl.