"They were fired up to have one more go at it. "Obviously it's a pretty emotionally hard situation to deal with for the seniors and the players in general," Gilbert said. Indio head coach Scott Gilbert, who did not want to discuss the incident, said he did feel bad for his senior players who got their final game taken away from them. Lawson said his security team, and the Indio Police Department and administration from both schools were on the scene and investigating the situation. Don't know who started it or who was involved, but I needed to get both teams away from any kind of hostility or anger or repercussions." "I hated to do it, but once you have adults involved and people are angry on both sides when you have that kind of environment," Lawson said. More: LIVE: Friday's high school football scores: Big stakes on line for Palm Desert, Coachella Valley Lawson said it was adults more than students that were causing the problem. Lawson said he made the ultimate decision, but he did consult both athletic directors and the assistant principal at Desert Hot Springs. It was supposed to be the best game I’ve ever had, and all I wanted was to leave my mark." I’ve been in tears day-dreaming about everything I was gonna do tonight. "I’m just heartbroken that this was supposed to be the last time I ever played football again and that was robbed from me. We were just in the locker room getting ready for the game, but I mean everything happens for a reason, and I’m sure it’s all bigger than just football," Martinez said. We weren’t even a part of the fight at all. "My team and fellow seniors didn’t deserve this.
After all the work I’ve put in these four years to just end on that was heartbreaking. "They said it was out of their control so I walked down to the field and threw my helmet out of anger because I honestly didn’t know what to feel. "Well we were in line ready to walk out for our senior night, and they announced that the game was canceled so I walked over to our coaches and asked what happened and why can’t we play," Martinez said. More: Manny Ridge's historic performance in final game at Desert Mirage places him in rare company High school football helmet designs look to soften impact of blows to head More: Why President Trump's new sports medicine law is tricky in California Indio senior quarterback Aubuchon Martinez took us through the moment he found out and the emotions that went with it. It was senior night for Indio High School and the final game of the season for both teams.Īs you might imagine, the news was devastating to the seniors who were ready to play the final game of their high school career. But the bad blood carried on even after the on-field brawl was over. Approximately 30 players were part of the fracas. Coaches and adults joined the fray to try to stop it. Video circulating on social media shows a fight erupting in the north end zone with players from both sides involved. "Bottom line, we wanted to be safe for all of our kids and we didn't want this to escalate or continue." "We still had a crowd out in front of the entrance and the crowd was not letting the issue resolve and we did not want to have any of our students in jeopardy," Lawson said.
Indio principal Derrick Lawson made the decision to cancel the varsity game when even after the field was cleared, the heated exchange spilled over into the parking lot and perimeter of the field after adults got involved. Watch Video: Raw video: Fight breaks out between Indio and Desert Hot Springs high schoolsįriday night’s senior night football game at Indio High School between Indio and Desert Hot Springs was canceled due to an unsafe environment when an on-field melee broke out following the freshman game between the two schools.