North Bergen-Dickinson game ends in brawl; six players ejected
Eight minutes remained in last Saturday night’s HCIAA National Conference football game between North Bergen and Dickinson, when the game suddenly ended. North Bergen was declared the winner by a final score of 41-6. What ensued still isn’t very clear to a lot of people, but certainly was not soon to be forgotten.
What is clear is this: A brawl took place. Several players on the field participated, although since they were in complete football uniform, it is doubtful anyone could get seriously hurt. Some nasty taunts were fired back and forth in the stands by fans, who then threatened to get involved physically in the altercation. There were reports of some scuffles between fans.
To restore a sense of calm, Dickinson coach Rob Maffia took his team off the field and brought them to the bus. For some reason, the officials thought that this was a signal that Dickinson no longer wanted to continue playing and prompted the officials to declare the game over.
The officials also must have thought that the altercation on the field was serious enough to eject a total of six players – three from Dickinson and three from North Bergen. By the laws of the NJSIAA, these six players cannot compete for their next two regularly scheduled contests.
"In 40 years of coaching, I’ve only had two kids ejected," North Bergen head coach Vince Ascolese said. "And now I had three ejected in one game. As crazy of a scene as it was, I don’t think it was as bad as reported. There was a lot of pushing and shoving, and a couple of punches were thrown. I think things got a little out of hand, but if the coaches didn’t get involved and stop things, then it would have been a scary situation. That’s how I honestly feel."
Ascolese said that emotions probably got the most of a lot of players. After all, the score was definitely one-sided. North Bergen had the ball and was driving toward another touchdown. Dickinson was about to see its record fall to 0-4. Circumstances might have played a part in the fiasco.
Ascolese said that he particularly felt bad for one of his players, Emil Fuda, who was ejected from the game and will miss the Bruins’ next game against Ferris, even though he was apparently gang-tackled by approximately five Dickinson players and assaulted.
It was a tough situation for Ascolese, especially after all Fuda has been through lately physically. Fuda was diagnosed with having a tumor under his right eye, which has now been determined as benign, but first caused some serious concerns.
"He’s going to have the surgery soon and I don’t know if he will be able to return," Ascolese said of Fuda’s condition. "Doctors said that he could return in 7-10 days, but there’s no guarantee. I told that to the officials, that the kid being ejected had sacrificed so much to be out there."
Fuda, who was also a standout pitcher on the North Bergen team that reached the Group IV state finals in June, will have the delicate surgery sometime next week. There is no guarantee that the wide receiver will return to play football this season.
So his final play, his final action, might have been the brawl.
Shouldn’t keep happening here
Not to downplay the situation, because of Fuda’s condition and subsequent suspension from playing because of his role in the altercation, but these kind of activities only happen here in Hudson County – and the time has come to stop and take a closer look exactly why.
Hundreds of high school football games were played around New Jersey last weekend. Only one was halted because of a brawl. Right here.
Football games in Hudson County have produced several brawls over the years. Eight years ago, there was a vicious battle between Hoboken and Marist, which saw players swinging helmets and fans coming out of the stands to join the melee. That was a sickening situation, one that I witnessed, but at the time, some people said, "It wasn’t as bad as it was made out to seem."
Frighteningly similar to the accounts of this latest scuffle.
Bad as it seems or worse than Armageddon, it shouldn’t matter. These kinds of altercations only happen locally.
It may be the reason why the best high school officials tend to stay away from refereeing Hudson County football games. The best refs want to call offside penalties and throw flags for encroachment, not separate brawls and eject a half-dozen players. So they’ll take games in the suburbs to avoid facing these kinds of brawls.
Although his team participated in it – and he certainly didn’t deny their participation – Ascolese offered his disgust to the situation.
"Of course, I’m disappointed," the veteran coach said. "I’ve lost three kids who worked hard throughout the season and now, they can’t play. It’s a big disappointment to those kids."
But could have this been prevented? The HCIAA and NJSIAA already had instituted a new sportsmanship policy, which is geared toward promoting unity between high school athletes and set to deter any altercations. Players are brought together before the game and they clasp hands as a sign of unity. Apparently, that spirit and goodwill went right out the window last Saturday after the coin toss.
And how can something like this take place, especially after what transpired less than a month ago in Manhattan in the shadows of Cochrane Stadium, where the game was played? How quickly we forget.
The entire nation is in mourning and is trying to recover from the World Trade Center tragedy by promoting patriotism and recognizing our public servants, especially uniformed emergency workers, as heroes.
And here, less than two miles from the tragic site now known as Ground Zero, a bunch of knuckle-headed teenagers totally forgot about the horrors of Sept. 11 and acted like hoodlums. For what? A football game?
Sure, the game will go down as a North Bergen victory. But incidents like these are losses for all Hudson County sports people. It’s just another black eye, a slice of negativity that we didn’t need, especially with everything that has happened lately.
Even if it wasn’t "as bad as reported," it’s bad enough that it’s taking precedence in these sports pages this week. Around the state, critics chuckle and say that it’s "typical of Hudson County." The time has come to change that ridiculous stereotype.
And all who were involved – players, coaches and the so-called fans and supporters in the stands – should be ashamed of themselves.
Remember, it’s high school football, not life and death. Remember that when you think of the 6,000 or so people who have had to plan funeral arrangements over the last three weeks.