Ugly finish

The number of opportunities for the Arizona Western College football team to ignite a comeback were fading fast as the game clock ticked below 10 minutes.

But neither the AWC or Eastern Arizona teams will ever know what might have been.

The Matadors' season came to a close 9 minutes and 55 seconds earlier than expected Saturday night when officials called the game following a series of fights, scuffles and general chaos on the field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Gila Monsters were awarded the win, leading 36-17 in the fourth quarter when the football field became a wrestling mat as both teams had to be separated from each other on two occasions.

"It's embarrassing. This is embarrassing as all hell," AWC coach Tom Minnick said. "I've never went through this in my life. Never."

Minnick said four of his players and two Eastern Arizona players were ejected from the game after officials met at midfield and both teams returned to their sidelines. As the ejected AWC players were making their way to the locker room and passing by the Eastern Arizona sideline, tensions arose again and players on both teams had to be restrained.

"The refs said if it went on they were going to shut the game off, which was fine," Minnick said.

Names of ejected players were not officially released. Among those seen making their way off the field were AWC freshmen Jacob Feagai and Jamaine Sherman, and sophomore Charles Stevens.

Once the game was stopped, Eastern Arizona was sent to the south end zone until Arizona Western could exit the field. Three Yuma Police Department cars and one AWC patrol car guarded the south entrance to the stadium as AWC cars and buses left the stadium parking lot.

"Blame it on everyone. Blame it on our team, blame it on their team and on the refs not getting to it right away," Minnick said. "It's just very embarrassing, especially to end a season like this."

The game also marks the end of the season for Eastern Arizona, who turned down an invitation from the North Star Bowl in Rochester, Minn. earlier in the week for financial reasons. The Gila Monsters finish the season 8-3 and 5-3 in Western States Football League play.

"We weren't in danger of losing it, but we would have liked to finish it out," Eastern Arizona coach John O'Mera said. "We have some good sophomores that deserve to play until it says 0:00.

"I don't really know what happened. I just know that we definitely controlled our sideline and they couldn't keep their kids off the field."

The Matadors conclude the year with a .500 record overall and in league play (5-5, 4-4).

AWC led 10-9 and appeared in control of the game at halftime. The Matadors' defense held Eastern Arizona's option attack to less than 100 yards - a first this year for the Gila Monsters - while Bryan Mann and the AWC offense operated smoothly.

After a 21-yard field goal miss, AWC kicker Michael Ellison booted in a 32-yard attempt to start the second quarter. Mann scored the team's only touchdown of the half on a 1-yard run two series later.

"We missed some opportunities not catching punts and had some bad field position, but we did whatever we wanted to do and looked good doing it," Minnick said.

But the Gila Monsters owned the third quarter. EAC scored 20 unanswered points, starting with quarterback Tony Reid's first pass attempt of the night and first touchdown pass of the season to T.J. White for 39 yards. The Gila Monster defense got in on the act as well as Robinson Ronald leaped up to intercept a Brandon Gorsuch screen pass and sprinted 26 yards untouched for the score and a 29-10 lead.

AWC's last score came in the third quarter, a 3-yard run by Terry Cotton with Gorsuch running the offense. Mann left the field on two separate drives in the quarter due to injury and had his calves wrapped in ice at game's end.