Football players suspended due to brawl

The well-known high school football rivalry between Las Cruces and Mayfield ended in an all out brawl Friday . The film was reviewed by the superintendent, Stan Rounds, and the NMAA and it was decided suspensions were needed.

Rounds said a total of nine players were suspended. Five players from Las Cruces and 4 from Mayfield.

The players names could not be released due to privacy laws and the Family Educational and Privacy act (FERPA).

“We have a total of 9 players who will be disciplined in their particular matter,” Rounds said.”They will be suspended from playing in their next game.”

Both coaches took responsibility and said an incident like this will never happen again.

“I take full responsibility for my football team, I’m the head coach,” head coach Jim Miller said. “We can’t do anything about it now. It’s over, but we can learn from it.”

Some parents told ABC-7 a fight like this could have prevented if the game was called fairly. They said there were cheap shots on players during the game that were never called by the referees.

“It shouldn’t have happened, these kids are young,” One parent said. “It was bad judgement on all of their part, but it just needs to be fair.”

ABC-7 learned from two sources close to the investigation that the Mayfield quarterback will not be one of the nine players suspended.