Cass Tech-Southfield season-opening game stopped after massive fights in stands

SOUTHFIELD, Mich (FOX 2) - High School Football season is back and, while we expect battles between the lines, the people in the stands are expected to stay away from the action. But one of the first football games of the year was stopped abruptly because of fans' bad behavior.

A bizarre end to one of the first high school football games of the season. It happened here at blue devil stadium but had nothing to do with the players. The contest ended prematurely Thursday night because of fights happening off the field.

Detroit's Cass Tech and Southfield A&T were playing at Blue Devil Stadium at Lawrence Tech on Thursday in one of the first high school games of the season. The game lasted about a quarter-and-a-half until it had to be stopped.

Referees called the game in the second quarter after several dangerous incidents involving fans at the stadium.

Sam "Stick" Day was at the game for Woodward Sports and worked with Prep Gameday, which live-streamed the action and said something like this should never happen at a high school game.

"That’s one thing we discussed last night. Not only are you robbing the parents from watching their kids, you’re robbing these kids from playing in the game. There could be scouts in the stands, and you’re robbing these kids of scholarships," he said.  "Then we got some feedback from our field reporter, our sideline reporter, Lexi. She told us that there were too many people there. People were hopping the fence. There was some scuffling going on outside the fence too."

The football game between Cass Tech and Southfield was called on Thursday due to bad fan behavior in the stands.

Not long after, officials and police arrived and ordered everyone to leave.

Southfield’s police chief told FOX 2 there were a few fights and that officers detained, and later released, two kids to their parents. Police did not report seeing any weapons.

After the game, former Michigan defensive back, and Cass Tech standout, Terry Richardson II tweeted he saw parents antagonizing opposing players and fans blow marijuana smoke in the faces of kids and adults. Richardson said the detroit community must do better.

The chaos started to unfold with less than six minutes to go in the second quarter. The action stopped after Southfield A&T scored a touchdown and had a chance to tie with a two-point conversion attempt. 

Moments later, coaches from both teams met with the refs and another official for a phone call. The body language from the coaches showed some disappointment as the game was stopped.

Day says there was a brief glimmer of hope the game would continue but only if the fans would leave.

"What was really crazy is in the stands they were telling everybody if you leave, we can continue the game, but half the crowd wouldn’t leave so they had to shut down the game," he said.

Both teams will play the remainder of the game Friday night at a different stadium and no fans will be allowed to watch in person