http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/high_school/2010/09/25/2010-09-25_psal_football_game_ends_in_controversy_near_brawl_as_campus_magnet_beats_boys__g.html?r=sportsPSAL football game ends in controversy, near brawl as Campus Magnet beats irate Boys & Girls
BY Mike Jaccarino, Mitch Abramson, Rachel Monahan and Rich Schapiro
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
A wild melee at a high school football game in Queens ended ugly Saturday when an assistant coach dropped his drawers and mooned the opposing team's spectators.
The Boys and Girls High School volunteer assistant bared his backside to fans of the home team, Campus Magnet, minutes after a shoving match erupted on the field between coaches and school safety officers.
"His fellow coaches were holding him back and he turned around and pulled down his shorts," said David Sumter, 40, a Campus Magnet parent. "All I saw was his big \[rear end\]."
The ruckus that sparked the mooning erupted in the final minutes of the Championship Division contest in Cambria Heights.
Campus Magnet had just scored a touchdown, extending its lead to 14-6. On the 2-point conversion try, running back Raeshawn Lewis was apparently stripped of the ball as he crossed the goal line.
There was confusion over whether Lewis fumbled. After the refs convened, they ruled that Lewis had broken the plane of the goal line with the ball firmly in his hands.
The Boys and Girls coaches went ballistic, charging onto the field to argue the call.
The coaches, clad in red T-shirts and shorts, hurled obscenities at the refs, witnesses said.
After a few minutes, five school safety officers rushed the field and pulled out their handcuffs, further stoking the Boys and Girls coaches' rage.
"It didn't look like much at first, but then they just kept on going," said a 16-year-old student. "They were cursing and yelling."
The refs ejected Boys and Girls head coach Barry O'Connor and his assistant, Clive Harding, and called the game with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter to give Campus Magnet a 16-6 victory.
Fans from Campus Magnet kept heckling the Boys and Girls coaches, witnesses said.
That's when the burly assistant lost his cool - and then his shorts.
He walked toward the fence surrounding the field, started screaming at some fans and then revealed his caboose.
"I think he was so frustrated and he wanted to fight and some people were using curse words and he couldn't do anything," said Sumter, whose son plays on the JV squad.
"It's out of line. If you're getting beat and it's a bad call, you take it in stride. You don't pull your pants down."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education said Boys and Girls Principal Bernard Gassaway vowed to fire the shameless assistant.
Gassaway could not be reached Saturday.
PSAL Commissioner Alan Arbuse, who was at the game, said the league will conduct a review to determine disciplinary action.
Arbuse praised the behavior of the players. "Both benches, especially the Boys and Girls kids, acted like gentlemen," he said.
Players said the whole thing was just really sad.
"They set a bad example," said Campus Magnet running back Wavell Wint, who rushed for 147 yards and two touchdowns. "They didn't act like adults. I think they gave up too fast. Anything can happen in a football game with three minutes left."
