East Mississippi Community College and Itawamba Community College are playing Saturday, and the game apparently got out of hand in the third quarter. How out of hand? A referee punched a coach.
According to Brandon Shields of Mississippi Gridiron Magazine, EMCC coach Buddy Stephens was ejected and got in an altercation with a referee. The referee punched Stephens and was ejected by a school administrator. Later, two players got in a fight on the sidelines that resulted in another ejection.
If EMCC sounds familiar, that's because it has produced a number of transfer products, most recently current Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly. Stephens was even on the field to congratulate Kelly after the Rebels' upset of Alabama.
That'd be Lion coach Buddy Stephens about to hug EMCC alum Chad Kelly after beating Bama. @EMCCathletics @OleMissFB pic.twitter.com/6TOXiSkCB5
— Tom Huebner (@EMCCHuebner) September 20, 2015
Here is the full play-by-play of the incident at the EMCC-ICC game.
So EMCC coach Buddy Stephens and a referee went back and forth jawing at each other and both got ejected
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
Referee punched EMCC coach Buddy Stephens and was ejected.. Stephens was ejected for trying to fight back
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
Yes the referee threw the punch first
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
Game administrator https://t.co/h5vEzqpP4s
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
And a few plays later ICC's Quinn Tiggs and EMCC's Damion Willis are trading blows
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
Damion Willis has been ejected for throwing punches.. Getting chippy..
— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) September 26, 2015
In summary, a coach got ejected for arguing, a referee was ejected for punching that coach and then not long after that two players started fighting and one was ejected. Apparently Mississippi juco football is wild.
For those that care, EMCC is up 45-17 in the fourth quarter.
