CARROLL COUNTY, Ga.,None — Carroll County parents are under fire after a children’s football game turned violent. At least one woman is coming to their defense.
Julie Eckert said she and other parents from Carroll County's team ran on to the field to protect their children because the officials did not have the game under control. She told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri that her son Hunter was injured by Carrollton's players during the game. That's when she and several other parents from the county side ran to the field.
"They all got in it, and they were all fighting. So, all the parents, we jumped the fence and grabbed our kids," Eckert said.
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Carroll County Operations Manager Vince Collins said the department suspended the head coach and assistant coach for one year after Saturday's game between Carroll County and Carrollton recreational youth teams. The county’s head coach was already serving a suspension for an incident at a game two weeks before Saturday’s game. Collins told Napier Viteri from now on coaches will be responsible for calling the game off if the conduct on the field gets out of control.
Carrollton's superintendent of athletics suspended his head coach and assistant coach because of the fighting.
"There were kids out there pushing and hitting and some of that stuff, and I've said from day 1 we shouldn't have been involved with that," said Peter Maierhofer. "Then, parents came out of the stands and that's where it kind of got scary."
He said Carrollton's parents did not leave the stands, but he heard inappropriate language coming from both sides. He told Napier Viteri that other than a referee telling police he wants to prosecute a parent who swung at him, no adults threw any punches.
"One of the parents tried to actually hit one of the referees, and our assistant coach, Leronce Hammett, actually blocked it," Maierhofer said.
Eckert said she supports the new policy and wants coaches to end games before they get to the point of being violent. "We didn’t want to harm anybody. We wanted to get our kids safe and off the field," she said.
Both teams are suspended for the upcoming game.
WSBTV
