A college football referee was left with blood running down his face after getting caught in a wild brawl between East Carolina and NC State on Saturday night.
The players began fighting in the final minute of East Carolina's 26-21 victory. in the Military Bowl after a Pirates receiver appeared to grab a towel from the waistband of a Wolfpack defender.
That moment sparked a melee in which more and more players became involved and, as the fight spread, even one officer managed to receive a heavy blow.
The referee was said to have been hit by a helmet during the fight, and ESPN cameras showed the extent of the gruesome cut he suffered as a result.
He could be seen cleaning the blood that ran down his face, before his teammates came to his aid and tried to clean him up.
It took about a minute to control the situation, and about eight minutes before the ball could be captured again for a final kneel.
A college football referee suffered a gruesome cut while players brawled Saturday night.
“I feel embarrassed as a coach,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said. 'I know our players are too. That's not how the people of this program, the players of this program, the staff of this program, want to have anything to do with something like this.
“To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there are no excuses for that. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”
“Obviously, I didn't like the last stretch of the game,” Pirates coach Blake Harrell said. “There is no place for that in sports.”
In the game itself, Rahjai Harris broke free for an 86-yard touchdown run with 1:33 left to give East Carolina a pulsating 26-21 victory over NC State.
Harris had 220 of ECU's 326 rushing yards, and his sensational sprint near the end of the game gave the Pirates (8-5) the lead after blowing a 13-point lead in the quarter.