SPRINGDALE -- Five players were disqualified during Shiloh Christian's 50-18 victory over Elkins on Friday night, four of which came because of a fight late in the fourth quarter.
With four minutes left in the game, the Saints forced the Elks to punt. After the return, a skirmish broke out that cleared both benches. Chippy play between the two sides culminated in the fight after players on both teams started shoving each other.
"We had a little extracurricular breakout, and going back and just watching the film, it was just a deal where guys were trying to protect each other," Shiloh Christian Coach Jeff Conaway said. "It needed to be broken up quickly, and the officials broke it up."
Officials ejected linebacker Rory Clouse and receivers Easton Fields and Chad Graham for Elkins, and receiver Jack Sutton on Shiloh Christian for their roles in the brawl. They will all be out for next week's games.
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"Both teams have sideline video, so we can watch everything in reverse," Elkins Coach Chad Harbison said. "We had a kid that had a personal foul during the play, which is uncharacteristic of us, he shouldn't have done it, then we had one of our other players get body slammed.
"We have to step up and be better than that."
Another Saints player was ejected earlier in the game.
Shiloh Christian started slowly, but once the Saints got rolling they cruised behind playmaker Jaret Russ, who scored three touchdowns. But Russ left the game in the third quarter with a leg injury after rushing for 67 yards on 12 carries to go along with 4 receptions for 42 yards.
"I thought he ran the ball really hard tonight," Conaway said of Russ. "He was hard to tackle and had some explosive runs. That's what Jaret Rus does."
Conaway said he would have to wait until today to learn more about Russ' condition, but he thought Russ was dealing with cramps initially.
Shiloh Christian quarterback Landon Brown made his debut after not playing last season. Brown fired a couple of touchdown passes for the Saints, who will host Little Rock Christian next week.
Elkins will host West Fork next week.
Sports on 09/02/2017