A controversial championship wrestling match between Milford and Sussex Central at the Henlopen Conference Championship Tournament on Sunday led to a stands-clearing brawl between members of the two teams, their coaching staffs, and even families of the players.
Tempers flared during the title match between Milford’s Anthony Bonville and Central’s Joel Collins; Bonville lost a close bout, and Milford coaches, along with some of the more vocal members of the crowd, yelled that Collins should have been called for stalling. The official announcement of Collins’ win met with boos from the audience, and the reaction only got louder when Milford Head Coach Don Parsley approached the head table to argue his point.
There’s no single clear account of how it started, but in a matter of seconds, a full-scale brawl had broken out in front of the bleachers, between the Milford and Sussex Central sections.
Tournament officials and officers from the Delaware State Police and Lewes Police Department spent the next 20 minutes pulling apart parents, coaches and players from both teams and settling down a raucous crowd.
“It was an unfortunate set of circumstances, and emotions get out of control sometimes,” Parsley said. “It’s something we don’t like to see, but when it happens we have to deal with it and control ourselves.”
What happened during the fight is still unclear, as none of the participants were willing to comment to the Beacon on what they saw or did. Members of both teams, including students and adults alike, had to be held back by their teammates from attacking others, and coaches from both sides were accused of throwing punches at students. Milford High School Principal Phyllis Kohel said a Milford parent saw a Golden Knights coach strike a MHS junior. Meanwhile, a woman wearing a Central shirt loudly accused "the Milford coach" of trying to hit her 15-year-old daughter.
The tournament eventually re-started, after repeated orders for fans to return to their seats, with all the gym’s lights turned on to discourage further fighting. While there was some talk of keeping Bonville out of the medal presentation for the 130-pound winners, he joined the other six top finishers in his weight class at the front of the auditorium, and got applause from the crowd, including the Sussex Central bench. It only took a few seconds to see that not everything was forgotten when Collins got scattered boos after accepting his gold medal.
Police have not announced whether anyone was arrested for their part in the brawl.
