College Football

Brawl breaks out near end of Military Bowl with 1 bloodied ref, 8 players ejected

Updated Dec. 29, 2024 12:18 a.m. ET

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Rahjai Harris broke free for an 86-yard touchdown run with 1:33 remaining, giving East Carolina a pulsating 26-21 victory over NC State in the Military Bowl in a game that descended into a wild brawl in the final minute.

Harris had 220 of ECU's 326 yards rushing, and his sensational sprint near the end of the game gave the Pirates (8-5) the lead back after they'd blown a 13-point advantage in the fourth. But after an interception by Dontavius Nash ended NC State's final drive, East Carolina's attempt to run out the clock was interrupted by a large-scale fight between the two in-state rivals — who play each other again to start next season.

Three players for ECU and five for NC State were ejected.

Umpire Rod Tucker inadvertently took a helmet to the face and received medical attention as blood was seen dripping from his face. Meanwhile, referee Jonathan Noli read off all eight ejections from a small index card.

NC State coach Dave Doeren expressed remorse over the brawl at the end of the game.

"I'm embarrassed as a coach," Doeren told reporters. "I know our players are, too. That is not how people of this program, the players of this program, staff of this program, want anything to do with something like that. To me, it was a terrible response to something that happened to one of our players, and there's no excuses for it. So I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we responded.'

This is the second straight NC State game in which the Wolfpack were involved in a scuffle. It also happened after their win over UNC in the regular-season finale when NC State players planted a flag on the Tar Heels' field. The ACC fined and publicly reprimanded both schools.

On Saturday, ECU (8-5) trailed 21-20 and took over the ball at its own 14, and after two incompletions, the Pirates decided to run the ball with Harris. He had a good hole to the left for a big gain, then cut back past the final defender on his way to the end zone.

Eastern Carolina coach Blake Harrell enjoyed seeing his team snatch the lead back, though he wasn't a fan of what went down at the end of the game.

"Obviously, didn't like the last little bit of the game," Pirates coach Blake Harrell said. "No place in sports for that."

Harrell also didn't disparage NC State, embracing the rivalry nature between the two schools as they're set to play again in the 2025 season opener.

"I don't think you can look at our fans and tell them it's not a rivalry. It's an hour and 15 minutes up the road,' Harrell said. 'And there's a couple of other schools about the same distance. Maybe they should put us on their schedule as well, instead of trying to take our players. They want to call our players and take our players. Well how about put us on the schedule?

"We're going to be looked at like a little step-brother, that's fine,' Harrell added. 'These guys are going to compete, they're going to take up the challenge. I know we got to go play these guys again next year, at the beginning of the year. But we're going to celebrate this one tonight."

CJ Bailey threw three touchdown passes for the Wolfpack (6-7), who rallied from a 20-7 deficit in the fourth. Bailey threw a 15-yard scoring strike to Justin Joly on fourth down, then NC State forced ECU's first punt of the game and took the lead on a trick play.

Bailey handed off to Hollywood Smothers, then Smothers pitched to Keenan Jackson, who pitched the ball back to Bailey. The NC State quarterback quickly dumped the ball off to Smothers, who had plenty of blockers in front of him and went all the way to the end zone for a 33-yard TD and a 21-20 lead.

It wasn't enough as the ACC completed a desultory day. ACC teams are 1-9 in postseason bowls and playoff games this year after four more went down Saturday. North Carolina (Fenway), Boston College (Pinstripe), Miami (Pop Tarts) and NC State (Military) all lost.

Louisville, Duke and Virginia Tech still have games in the coming days for the league.

ECU quarterback Katin Houser opened the scoring with a 19-yard touchdown run. After an East Carolina field goal, Bailey got the Wolfpack on the board with an 8-yard scoring pass to Dacari Collins in the second quarter.

The Pirates led 13-7 at halftime and then drove for a touchdown to start the third quarter. After Houser's 4-yard TD run, ECU lined up to go for 2, but after a delay of game penalty had to kick the extra point.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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CFB - Military Bowl - 12/28/2024