Terrible. Sportmanship is not being taught properly. It's a game and the lesson of the game and being on a team is to strive to do your best as a team...brawling because you lost is unacceptable and those individuals who were involved should be removed from the team for the year.

I attended JCHS and graduated from WEHS...I was a cheerleader in both school districts. Losing meant disappointment and a desire to do better next time. This is ugly and should not be tolerated.

OK, I just have to ask, was alcohol involved? I understand this was in the middle of a Saturday afternoon but the way things are these days I am not suprised by anything anymore.

The kids involved in the brawl aren't even on the teams

Glad to hear the teammates were not involved. However those who were should serve community service for the school year, constructive consequences that display to other students examples of respect for the community. It sounds as though the group was chaotic and rather large like a riotous crowd. It grieves me to think my hometown has lost dignity.

I am a student at jchs and witnessed said "brawl". There were 3 kids involved, two west Essex students against one Caldwell student. I do not know the exact definition of brawl but I do not think what I saw fit the requirements. This article is blown out of proportion and exaggerated. It seems there is so little interesting things that happen in Caldwell that you have to make things up to spark interest. Caldwell patch, you are stupid. And to the woman above me, get the facts straight before you start throwing out consequences.

Only the places and dates have changed. They were brawling after games at Friendly's in the 70's.

I, too, am a student from JCHS who was near the scene right after this "brawl" occurred. This is being blown completely out of proportion. I'm sick and tired of the idiocy of three or four people becoming representative of the entire teenaged population of the area. "Assaulted"? Really? I am simply appalled at the way adults in our community view and treat children. I'm not even criticizing the article more than adults' reactions to it...

However, I do not condone any of the behavior that went on. I agree that the students at Chipotle were absolutely out of line and those who reacted violently deserve punishment. I'm just tired of my generation constantly being unjustly labelled because of the stupid decisions of a few kids.

To the young student "AD" who does not know the definition of brawl: that is what a dictionary is for.
brawl |brôl|
noun
a rough or noisy fight or quarrel.
verb [ no obj. ]
fight or quarrel in a rough or noisy way.
• literary (of a stream) flow noisily.
The "facts" I and any reader have are from this news report. Any fight that ensues in public over a football game should not be tolerated. If four town police departments were called to the scene, the "fight" was far more serious than three young out of control students. If you were physically there, perhaps you can enlighten us to the "facts" as you perceived them. There is no excuse for fighting in public and causing a scene. Football is a game...nothing more. What it should teach is team effort and the understanding that win or lose, you've played a game and enjoyed doing so.

P.S. To all the young adults here on this commentary...No adult who contributes here is blaming all young people for the fight/brawl. We are commenting on the article. You, personally are not being attacked. The behavior of a few is.

ANON: A school year as consequence is not exceptional and is typical of most schools who wish to instill in students a sense of what is appropriate behavior and what is not. By high school age, young adults are intelligent enough to know what is appropriate behavior and what is not. The "facts" as you call them are not established except for what the reporter of this article stated to the public. Your comment regarding an autistic individual is not mentioned in the article. If you have information that would be helpful to the reporter I suggest you provide that to her/him and the police who are investigating. Your information is helpful. As a reader, I only comment on what I have been provided here in this publication. My suggestion for those involved in the fight to provide community service is not egregious...it is not only worthwhile for the individual but for the community at whole. Once you make a choice to engage in violence you have chosen to accept the consequences of your actions. Violence of any kind must not ever be accepted...I am sure all young adults agree with that.

Susan: The fact of the matter is that if you do not possess information other than the minimal amount that is presented throughout the article you should not make assumptions. Assuming that the losing team instigated the altercation is unfair to both sides. In the reality, the "brawl" was not caused by lack of sportsmanship, however by personal problems between individuals on both sides. Due to the proclivity of young adults to follow along with a group in an attempt to be accepted, an altercation between individuals evolved into an excitement fueled contest between both sides.

P.S. Susan, does it make you feel better to copy and paste dictionary definitions in an attempt to belittle teenagers?

@Anon, AD, NB;
You have strong, passionate, and intellegent ideas but you are posting at 10am and claim to be students.You should be in school, not on-line.

I agree with CE about making these outrageous assumptions

One of the unfortunate consequences in which this type of behavior results is the skewed perception concerning youngsters that the public can be left with. For example, Susan McGraw Keber says that she is grieved that "her hometown has lost dignity." I understand your sentiments, Susan, and I know that this type of incident is upsetting to everyone. However, I can happily report that this is neither the typical behavior exhibited by area students nor is it tolerated. Unfortunately, we don't often hear about the many wonderful students who attend games and behave appropriately, those who volunteer their time and services, and those who win awards. They attend both West Essex and JCHS. Let's encourage them!

I am no longer a student, but I saw the video of the "brawl". It was one kid from each school and another West Essex student joined in for about 5 seconds and then he stopped. There should be no assault charge because I fight is a fight. Either kid could have won and they both threw punches, but one kid landed them better than the other. If one of them gets assault, they both should.

a* fight is a fight. my bad

I am disappointed in what I am reading here. Brawl, assault, whatever you want to call it....no person has the right to strike another. Period. It's shame that the schools can't get along better. I would leave any type of punishment up to the school and/or police to handle. I understand our schools are rivals, but this is ridiculous. I can only hope that the students/people involved have learned a valuable lesson.

To the lady again: four different police departments were called simply because police in this area overreact to small situations because no legitimate crimes happen in our area. It was just a fight. Also, stop saying "it's just a football game, don't fight about it". It's not just about football, more often then not, students know each other personally through other things and dislike each other. It's not just the football, it's the two schools in general. Once again, it was just a small fight, keep believing everything you read and hear.

I couldn't agree more with CE.. Susan we are here to express our opinions concerning the behavior of young adults and not to make them feel inferior by using words that can certainly be used as simpler words

The police were dealing with multiple incidents at once including the assault of a Caldwell student near the high school. The police didn't over react they called for assistance as they did not have enough man power to handle the the multiple calls. Did you see the video of the kids inside of the Chipotle? Dozens of kids took over the entire restaurant. Cursing, screaming, standing on tables running behind the counter and disrupting the business is what got the cops to the area. Real civilized way to act. Even if the fights didn't break out you kids should all be ashamed of yourselves for acting like absolute idiots. YouTube the video, if its even left on there and see for yourselves our youth acting like their behavior is normal.

@BBB
I posted my comment at 9 PM. It wasn't approved and submitted until 10 AM, therefore I wasn't online during school. I'm sure the same goes for my other fellow students.

Such a shame that there needs to be fighting over a game-- I was not there and have no idea what the exact circumstances are-- there is never one side that is 100% right- and it appears the West Essex kids are being blamed for the whole thing- either way-- these kids are old enough to know better-- it is only a game

As a West Essex parent- I think it is silly - in general kids today are not being raised to respect each other, or anyone else. Again-- really disappointing

The West Essex kids should be blamed for this "brawl". The students of both schools know that Caldwell kids have been going to chipotle after every home game since it has opened. They went there with an intent to start a fight, just look at the amount of West Essex kids were there compared to the Caldwell kids.

these fights have been going on for a long long time, its part of growing up in our area and while i do not condone it, I know it is not the end of world scenario its being made out to be. We used to fight on bloomfield ave behind dunkin donuts, its hard to argue who instigated the fight but it should be noted that the fight took place in West Caldwell. This is being blown out of proportion kids will be kids...glad no one got hurt thats all that matters...

Sometimes pride for yourself, your family, your school and your community make you react instead of thinking things out. It appears that this is what happened after the game on Saturday. No one should be pointing fingers or calling children names especially those who know nothing about the incident or the individuals involved.

Firstly,Susan McGraw Keber allow me to commend you for having the courage to sign your name to your posts.It's too bad that many others don't have the BACKBONE to do so! Now,if it took the police from 4 towns ONE HOUR to quell this disturbance,common sense would dictate this "riot"was more than a few students acting up.Judging this and what has happened at the Kiwanis Oval this past couple of weeks,I sometimes wonder where some of our youth are headed.This "riot" in a man's establishment makes me feel proud of one thing-I am a graduate of Grover Cleveland High School..Respectfully,Gregory L. Mitchell, West Caldwell

Annie I, parent of the year, please tell us the secrets to raising well respected children. Because if you ask me, all the children I run into have a lot of respect for each other. Not going to let one incident ruin for everyone else.

Hey it's football stuff happens and as a player for Caldwell this make me can't wait for next year.

I saw video from this that was posted on Youtube. From the video I saw dozens students from both schools standing on top of tables and chairs chanting curse words towards the other school. Both schools students looked equally at fault from the video. Teenagers want to be treated like adult. Shame they can't act like one.