Week 6 Football: Alexander 62, Cigarroa 8

The Cigarroa Toros met with the Alexander Bulldogs Thursday night for what was supposed to be a great battle between teams with identical 3-1 District 29-5A records.
To the surprise of those in attendance, the battle looked a lot more like a Spanish bullfight, as numerous scuffles broke out during the night, culminating in a second half bench-clearing brawl that resulted in two players being ejected from the game.
While Alexander was victorious, 62-8, its dominating win was plagued by the turn of events late in the game at the SAC.
"All I can say is we’ve never, since we started this season, since my time began at Alexander, this is my fifth year there, I've never had anything like that happen to me," said Alexander head football coach Joel Lopez.
All told, there were 28 flags thrown over the course of the game, 12 of which were personal fouls. Each team picked up a roughly even number of flags over the course of the night.
"As soon as we went ahead, those things started happening … that's never happened to our guys," Lopez said. "I know they (Cigarroa) have had a scuffle in scrimmages … I don’t know! I don't know. We tried to hold our guys back and keep them out of that."
The biggest breakdown came near the end of the third quarter when Alexander junior quarterback Brian Swain scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to take a 56-8 lead over Cigarroa.
The players on the field from both teams began fighting each other in a skirmish that took place between the end zone and the 20-yard line on the side of the field closest to the Cigarroa bench.
Many Toros players ran past their coaches, who were trying to keep them on the sideline, into the brawl.
Bulldogs players, who were on the far sideline from the fight, mostly stayed off the field as coaches, referees and district personnel separated the two teams.
The results were the ejections of Cigarroa defensive back Jesus Sanchez and Swain.
"Both teams were playing emotionally high," Cigarroa coach Frank De Hoyos said. "It was on both teams. When the referees don't control the game, things get out of hand. When officials don't throw the flag and kids are hitting each other after the whistle, it creates a problem. It has to do with both sides, Alexander and Cigarroa. We don't teach that and I'm sure Mr. Lopez at Alexander doesn't teach that.
"I can’t speak for Mr. Lopez, but we will address it."
Each school district is responsible for the policing of its players following such an altercation.
The fighting was the lowest point of a night where just about everything went right for Alexander while everything went wrong for Cigarroa.
Cigarroa, which had thrived early in its season by forcing turnovers and earning defensive scores, accomplished neither against the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs punted only once on offense, scoring either touchdowns or field goals on every other offensive possession.
The Toros fell to 3-2 in district, 4-2 overall. The Bulldogs improved to 4-1, 5-1.