With just over five minutes left in the 4th quarter against Sunset, a fight broke out that ended the game in a 36-0 rout over the Bison. While Richardson waits for word from UIL on penalties, all Richardson players that were involved will receive a one-game suspension from the school. Talon photo by Jonathan Jauregui

Head football coach Brian Chandler is still unsure of what exactly happened during the last 59 seconds of Thursday’s football game against Sunset High School.

He knows one of his players intercepted a Sunset pass. He knows one of his players was punched. He knows an additional eight to ten of his players – along with the entire Sunset team – flooded the end-zone to join the fight.

What quickly turned into a melee resulted in the game ending five minutes early. With the Eagles up 36-0, Chandler said the fight tainted the first shutout win of the season.

“The RHS football program is about more than just winning the game,” he said. “We have a tradition of doing things the right way. We can’t be about winning or losing, we have to be about class, discipline and doing the right thing always.”

The morning after the game, Principal Charles Pickitt informed the students that the UIL governing body will review the incident and possibly assess penalties for both Richardson and Sunset.

He said the worst-case scenario is that UIL could publicly reprimand Richardson High School in their newsletter.

Chandler said that regardless of what UIL has in store, there will be a minimum one-game suspension for all players involved.

“He made sure we all knew that what happened was stupid, immature and embarrassing,” junior Region Kinden, who was already on the field and tried pulling other players away, said.

Most players, like senior De’Vante Branch, avoided the fight completely.

“I ran the other way,” Branch, who scored three touchdowns that night, said. “Everyone was just going crazy and I didn’t want to get in trouble.”

Both Pickitt and Chandler said they were proud of how players like Branch behaved.

“Ninety percent of the players did exactly the right thing,” Chandler said. “However, the way the other ten percent behaved made us all look bad. It was a typical situation of how the actions of a few effect the entire team.”

Pickitt said he hopes the students and football players learn from this experience.

“This unfortunate event is something that will reflect in a negative way on each of us – we are all Eagles,” he said. “We must, as a school, learn from this and grow to be an even stronger and better school community.”