Granite City, Cahokia football teams forfeiting Friday games after bench-clearing incident

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (KMOV) - Both Granite City and Cahokia High Schools are forfeiting their football games this upcoming Friday after the benches emptied when they played each other last week.

On September 8, an altercation broke out in the fourth quarter after a late hit, and several players from both teams left the bench and went onto the field. The Illinois High School Association says physical fighting on the field was “limited.” The involved players were ejected and neither team had enough players to finish the game, which was suspended with Cahokia leading 54-14. The game was officially declared a “no contest” and it will be recorded as a loss for both teams for state playoff purposes.

Under the rules, all of the ejected players must sit out the next game. Both teams do not have enough players for this week’s games, so both are forfeiting. Granite City was scheduled to play Centralia, and Cahokia was scheduled to play Carbondale.

Recent fights at or near football games, and in school have caused some schools to limit football game attendance.