[A Pennsylvania Coach]

Went to Hershey, Pennsylvania today to see a couple of state title games. In the AA Boys game (Sto-Rox vs Trinity) there was a bench-clearing brawl. There was some physicality just beginning, then a loose ball in front of the Trinity bench early in the fourth quarter. About six guys piled up and there was some shoving when they unpiled. The call was a held ball, Sto-Rox possession. They had to inbound right in front of the Trinity bench. A Trinity sub must have said something or did something from his seat on the bench to the player about to inbound, and the Sto-Rox player turned, karate kicked him, got in three or four punches, and the whole place erupted. Both benches cleared and there were maybe three or four separate scraps going on all over the floor.

During the time they tried to sort things out, I was supposing the game was going to end 4 on 5. I thought every bench player would be tossed along with the "karate" kid. After a big group of people consulted (PIAA director, officials, coaches, others) they ended up only tossing karate man, with some stern warnings, and a pair of Trinity FTs for the flagrant T. A couple of minutes later Sto-Rox star big man got tossed for a punch-like contact and that was it for the physicality. Sto-Rox got blown out with their only two big men ejected.

Questions: What is the penalty for leaving the bench during a fight? Does the head coach get an indirect T for each player that leaves the floor? If you were officiating this game, would it have tossed more players? Any comments would be appreciated.

Oh, and THIS is what I'd call poor sportsmanship.