10 Students Suspended In Wake Of Brick Fight

BRICK, NJ — Ten students have been suspended in the wake of a fight at the Brick vs. Brick Memorial football game last weekend, a portion of which was captured on a video that made the rounds on social media.

WOBM.com reported that some of the students were athletes and will not be permitted to play for their respective teams. Other students who were involved will be barred from after-school activities "for a significant amount of time.”

The fight happened at halftime of Saturday's game at Brick Township High School between the two schools. Witnesses said Brick students went to the visitors' stands and grabbed Brick Memorial's "Warlords" flag, which gets waved as the football team runs onto the field at the start of the game and after halftime.

A Brick Memorial student then went to the home stands to retrieve the flag. Some witness accounts say the teen was attacked by the Brick students after asking for the flag back. Others say the Brick Memorial student threw the first punch.

An 8-second video clip of the fight was posted to the Brick Patch Facebook page. The video, which originated on SnapChat, was taken by a student at the game and shared among students, several of whom then shared it with adults. The post on the Brick Patch Facebook page, which had been shared nearly 600 times and had more than 900 comments, was deleted sometime Monday morning.

In the video, a teen who is shirtless and dressed in camouflage pants is being dragged down a couple of steps by one teen in an Isaiah Thomas Boston Celtics jersey while a second teen wearing a baseball hat grabs the shirtless teen around the head. As the two pull and push the shirtless teen down the steps, the teen who had been pulling him at the waist begins throwing punches.

In addition to the suspensions, Brick Memorial's football game against Toms River North, which had been scheduled for Saturday night at Toms River North, has been moved to 2 p.m. Saturday.

"We are very disappointed at the conduct of several students from both high schools," Acting Superintendent Dennis Filippone said by email Sunday evening, remarks he reiterated in the WOBM report and in an Asbury Park Press report on the incident.

Filippone, who has been involved with township and district efforts to tone down the rivalry through the #BrickUnited campaign, said he will be having discussions with a number of people, including the police department, district administrators and others about what can be done.

"We want to make sure this does not happen again," Filippone said Sunday.

Editor's note: The Brick Memorial-Toms River North football game was originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, not Friday. The article has been updated to reflect the correct information. The Patch regrets the error.
Image pulled from video of the fight