Cross Creek head football coach Ezzard Horn told The Augusta Press Tuesday morning that he’s awaiting the results of an investigation from the Georgia High School Association and the Richmond County School Board about a fight that broke out during the Razorbacks’ game at Savannah High.
Original reports from the Savannah Morning News and the Atlanta Journal Constitution say a Savannah High coach and football player were hospitalized as a result of a fight that happened on the football field when a Cross Creek and Savannah High player got into a fight during the game. Cross Creek was leading 28-0 when the game was stopped in the third quarter after the melee.
“A player from Savannah and a player from Cross Creek got into a situation which me and my coaching staff stepped in quickly [to] help the referees defuse,” Horn said Tuesday morning.
According to reports, Savannah Coach Bud Tolliver told the Savannah Morning News that one of his assistants was hit in the head by a helmet, and was one of those hospitalized.
“I went onto the field to get my guy, and another one of our coaches went out there and one of the players swung a helmet at him and hit him in the head,” Tolliver said to the Morning News.
He also told the newspaper that three of his players were ejected and that about six players from Cross Creek were ejected as well. Horn pushed back on the claim of a helmet being weaponized during the melee.
“Me and my coaching staff worked hard to deescalate the situation when it happened, which we did,” Horn said. “And at no time was a helmet used as a weapon.”
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System’s athletics department made the decision to call the rest of the game off shortly after the fight had been quelled.
The fight was kept contained to the field, and reports say no arrests were made. As for the number of Cross Creek players possibly facing suspension due to the fight, Horn says he’ll make that determination as details from the investigation become available.
“The GHSA and Richmond County have started their investigation into what happened,” Horn said. “They haven’t come out with any names on who will be suspended as of yet.”
This was the second game of the season for Cross Creek that was impacted in some way due to violence. The scheduled Friday, Aug. 18 season opener against Butler was canceled for safety concerns after a school fight broke out at Butler just days before the game’s scheduled kickoff.
Savannah has also been in the mix of another football game against an Augusta-area team that was impacted due to violence.
The scheduled Friday Aug. 18 season opener between Savannah and Josey was supposed to be a home game for Josey. But after a school shooting incident at Josey happened a couple of days before the game, the contest got shifted to Savannah’s home field and was played on Saturday, Aug. 19 instead.
Friday’s 7:30 p.m. game between Cross Creek and Hart County will not take place, according to a news report from The Hartwell Sun.
