Brawl breaks out at California high school football 7on7 (video)
A brawl between Upland and Damien High football teams broke out at the Mission Viejo's 7on7 passing tournament on Saturday, June 29.
Fred Robledo of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, who originally posted the video on X/Twitter, reported Upland won the game. The teams are both in the Baseline League and will play October 11.
All seems to be fine while the players are engaging in the handshake line, but a Damien player (white shirts, yellow soft helmets) appears to push and take down an Upland player (gray tops, black pants). As the two players grapple to the ground, more teammates from each side converge to make a brawling scene.
The scuffle lasts roughly 35 seconds.
At the 24-second mark, two adults get tangled up on the right side of the screen. The gentleman in the white long-sleeve shirt is from Damien, and the man in the green hat and black shorts is from Upland.
The coach of Damien is Matt Bechtel. Upland's head coach is Darryl Thomas.
Damien has been involved in a handshake-line brawl before. In September of 2022, the Spartans got into a big scuffle with Bishop Amat, a local rival in the San Gabriel Valley area. Damien lost that game 35-7. The scene was more dramatic due to the players being in full gear, helmets and pads.
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Robledo reported, "...it started with Amat coach Steve Hagerty not shaking Damien coach Matt Bechtel’s hands, accusing Bechtel of slapping his hands last year. Hagerty refused to talk after and took his team out without answering questions.
Bishop Amat and Damien getting nasty afterward, and it started with Amat coach Steve Hagerty not shaking Damien coach Matt Bechtel’s hands, accusing Bechtel of slapping his hands last year. Hagerty refused to talk after and took his team out without answering questions pic.twitter.com/WeEBlUyagG
— Fred J. Robledo 👨🏻💻 (@SGVNSports) September 24, 2022
TAREK FATTAL, SBLIVE SPORTS
Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.