East Carolina-NC State fight mars end of Military Bowl, ref left bloodied

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The Military Bowl featured a matchup of in-state rivals East Carolina and N.C. State and the game’s temperature heated up before the end, which left an official bloodied.

The Pirates were about to wrap up a 26-21 win over the Wolfpack. East Carolina had just intercepted an N.C. State pass on defense and all they had to do was run out the clock. Running back Rahjai Harris ran the ball up the middle with 44 seconds left, but a fight ensued close to the Pirates’ sideline.

East Carolina wide receiver Yannick Smith appeared to swipe a towel from N.C. State defensive back Tamarcus Cooley. The Wolfpack played and then chased Smith and pushed him to the ground. Two other East Carolina players jumped into the fray to defend Smith.

It was another eight minutes before everyone could calm down, and the final play could occur.

At least one official was seen with his face bloodied. Eight players were ejected from the game.

“I’m embarrassed as a coach,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. “I know our players are, too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that.

“To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there’s no excuses for it. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.”

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East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell said there was “no place in sports for that.”

He seemed to challenge other in-state schools to add them to their schedules. East Carolina and N.C. State are only about 80 miles apart and have each other on their schedules for next season.

“I don’t think you can look at our fans and tell them it’s not a rivalry. It’s an hour and 15 minutes up the road,” Harrell said. “And there’s a couple of other schools about the same distance. Maybe they should put us on their schedule as well, instead of trying to take our players. They want to call our players and take our players. Well, how about put us on the schedule?

“We’re going to be looked at like a little step-brother, that’s fine. These guys are going to compete, they’re going to take up the challenge. I know we got to go play these guys again next year, at the beginning of the year. But we’re going to celebrate this one tonight.”