Military Bowl official ends up with bloody face after trying to break up fight late in East Carolina's win

An official ended up with a gash below his eye after a scuffle late in East Carolina’s Military Bowl win over NC State.

The official got hit in the face by a player’s helmet as members of both teams fought with 38 seconds left. The fracas started when NC State defensive back Tamarcus Cooley shoved ECU WR Yannick Smith. Both benches emptied and it went on from there.

There were so many players involved in the fight that each team was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for each member and the referee had to read the numbers of the players ejected from a list. East Carolina had three players ejected while NC State had five tossed from the game for their roles in the fight.

The brawl came after ECU took a lead with 1:33 to go on an 86-yard run by Rahjai Harris. His TD happened not long after ECU appeared to return a fumble for a go-ahead TD, but officials said the play had been stopped for forward progress despite no evidence of a whistle being blown to end it.

NC State came back from a 20-7 third-quarter deficit to take a 21-20 lead with 9:49 to go but lost its chance at the win when CJ Bailey was intercepted by Dontavius Nash with 44 seconds to go in ECU territory.

East Carolina ends the season 8-5 after winning five of its last six games under head coach Blake Harrell. He was named the team’s permanent coach at the end of the season after he became the interim coach following the firing of Mike Houston after a 3-4 start. NC State finishes the season at 6-7.