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In this case, once it becomes a group incident, instead of a couple players, I'm standing back watching the action and calling for the head coaches to come on the floor. along with security if it is present.
I am not trying to break up a group fight. The last thing I (or 99.9% of us) need is to become injured in a fight. I will stand back, take names and numbers, and deal with it as it needs to be dealt with.
Also, the idea that the officials "at least got to go home early" is likely very untrue.
In Michigan, if we have a fight like this, the officials are required to file an officials report. There is one officials report per ejection, plus reports of concern filed in this case because of non-game participants also being involved (people from the stands). As a crew, we need to have all the information straight as to who saw what before we file those reports. I suspect that Pennsylvania is similar. Not to mention, a situation like this normally also gets the legal authorities involved which means interviews with the police for the officials as well. It makes for a very long day/night.
Thankfully I never had a brawl during an HS event I officiated. I did however have one during college IM Flag football. The QB, after throwing a long TD pass, sprinted down the field and WWE dropped kicked a guy standing in the endzone. The police ended up coming in to break it up. I ended up having to testify in court about the incident because they charged the QB with several crimes (including pot possession, he had it in his shorts during the game).
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