■ Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference officials are looking into Saturday’s postgame brawl between players from N.C. A&T and N.C. Central, and Erskine Bowles, the president of the University of North Carolina system, said yesterday that he would let chancellors at the schools decide on disciplinary procedures.
The fight broke out shortly after N.C. Central intercepted a pass to seal a 27-22 victory in Greensboro, then stormed the field and jumped on the A&T logo. Coaches couldn’t stop the fight, and after several minutes, at least one police officer from Central used pepper spray to break it up, The Associated Press reported. It was the first on-campus game between the teams since 1992.
The MEAC said that it will investigate and take appropriate action. N.C. A&T is in the MEAC. N.C. Central is make the transition from Division II to Division I and hoping to join the conference.
Commissioner Dennis Thomas of the MEAC said in a statement: “We are carefully investigating the incident and will evaluate the findings to determine if any necessary actions are to be taken by the conference office.”
Athletics Director Dee Todd of A&T said Sunday that she wanted to postpone next year’s game against Central, scheduled Aug. 30, but has backed off that statement. “We owe them a game, and at some point, we will honor our agreement that we will return the game,” she said. “When that’s going to be, I can’t say.”
Thomas would not comment when asked if the brawl would affect N.C. Central’s chance to join the conference.
■ Coach Joe Taylor, who is in his 15th season at Hampton, called the N.C. A&T-N.C. Central brawl unfortunate and said that “it’s not a common thing for those two institutions.”
Taylor said that, by MEAC rules, teams are supposed to meet and shake hands at midfield after the game.
“It’s all about good sportsmanship and sometimes emotions get out of control and it’s just human nature,” he said. “If you take 100 ballgames and see that one time, it shouldn’t be a concern. If it happens week in and week out, then you’d have a problem.… I’m the old guy in this league and sometimes human nature gets out of hand. I would say I’ve seen that two or three times, and I’ve been around a long time.”
■ Athletics Director Chico Caldwell of WSSU said that it was S.C. State’s fault that WSSU’s radio crew couldn’t broadcast last Saturday’s game.
“All our folks were there, but the phone line wasn’t working so there was nothing we could do,” he said.
Caldwell said that the campus radio station routinely calls ahead for road games to make sure that there is a phone line that it can use. On Saturday, there wasn’t a dedicated line at S.C. State’s Dawson Stadium that worked.
“We know that when teams come to our stadium and they have a radio team, we make sure there is a phone line for them to use,” Caldwell said. “And if it’s not working or whatever, we make sure we get it fixed. In this instance at South Carolina State, we know some of our fans are probably mad that the game wasn’t on the radio, but our folks did the best they could to get on the air.... Hopefully this won’t happen again.”
■ Winston-Salem State will play at Howard at 1 p.m. Saturday, but Coach Kermit Blount of WSSU said that Howard’s 0-3 record and last-place ranking in the MEAC in penalties doesn’t necessarily indicate an easy game.
“One thing I’ve learned is there’s nobody on our schedule who is a pushover,” Blount said. “We just keep preaching and teaching to our kids that everybody we play we have to be ready for.”
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