Fight At Brick-Brick Memorial Football Game Stirs Tempers

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township School District officials are reviewing a video and deciding discipline for several students after a fight broke out at Saturday's football game between the township's two high schools at Brick Township High School.

They also are left searching for answers on how to defuse the increasing bitterness in the rivalry between Brick and Brick Memorial, a vexing issue they have been trying to address for more than two years.

"We are very disappointed at the conduct of several students from both high schools," Acting Superintendent Dennis Filippone said by email Sunday evening. Filippone said he has meetings scheduled with Brick Township Police Chief James Riccio on Monday and with William Kleissler and Richard Caldes, the principals of Brick and Brick Memorial, respectively, to discuss the incident.

Several students will be disciplined, Filippone said. He did not say how many were involved or what punishment the students might face, but said they were still trying to determine how many students were involved.

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 was deleted sometime Monday morning by the original poster.

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.

The video does not show what precipitated the fight, nor does it show any of the aftermath.

According to witnesses, the incident started during halftime at the game. Members of the Brick student body left their stands and went to the visitors' side of the field at Brick's Keller Memorial Stadium, grabbed a Brick Memorial flag and took it to the Brick stands. A Brick Memorial student then went to retrieve the flag. When he arrived at the Brick student section, however, a brawl ensued.

From there, the accounts of what happened diverge. Brick Memorial students and parents say the Mustangs' student asked for the flag back and was attacked. Brick Township students and parents say the Memorial student threw the first punch.

Tyler Geoffroy, a Brick Memorial student, said the flag in question is Memorial's "Warlords" flag, which they wave as the Mustangs football team comes running onto the field. The students consider the flag sacred, he said.

Geoffroy also said Brick Memorial students are upset because the student who was shirtless was forced to leave the game, while the Brick students did not appear to suffer any consequences. The Brick Memorial student section was cleared with about 4 minutes remaining in the game, which also angered those students, he said.

The visitors' stands at Brick Township High School are the ones closest to the building and parking areas at the school, while those sitting in the home stands must walk past the visitors' stands.

It is not the first time there have been issues at the rivalry game. In 2014, students from Brick were verbally harassed as they left the game, held that year at Brick Memorial. The game is held on Saturday afternoon and has been for a number of years because of past incidents. Uniformed Brick Township police officers work at the game to provide and added layer of security, and there are other measures, which are supposed to include keeping students from either side from going to the opposing student section.

That last rule led to at least one issue at Saturday's game, according to parents, who said Brick Memorial students were told they could not go to the snack stand, which is on the side of the field with Brick's home stands.

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 Riccio, district administrators and others about what can be done.

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

Editor's note: The video that originally appeared in this article was deleted sometime Monday morning by the person who posted the video to the page.

Photo pulled from video posted to the Brick Patch page