GREENSBORO — Police responded to a disorderly conduct call at J.A. Tarpley Stadium at Dudley High School at the conclusion of a football jamboree involving multiple schools.
Mount Tabor and Dudley were the final two teams to face off in the jamboree, which also featured Page, Southeast Guilford and Mallard Creek high schools.
Mount Tabor football coach Tiesuan Brown said that during the scrimmage against Dudley, he saw fighting in the home side stands while his team was on offense, and that no Dudley or Mount Tabor players or coaches were involved.
After the scrimmage was over and the teams shook hands, Brown said he felt like the situation was serious when some Dudley players followed his team to their end zone instead of going with the rest of their team to the end zone closest to the exit gate.
Brown said that he saw people running toward the exit, which involved climbing some stairs, and he felt that he had to get his team out safely. The coach said that his team followed school protocol to proceed to a meeting point at the visitors side, get on their bus and depart safely.
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The coach added that his team learned from a fight in the stands last season during Mount Tabor's home game against East Forsyth.
Brown said that Dudley High School handled the situation as best it could, and that he called the Panthers football staff and said that they were safe.
The Dudley team was in the end zone closest to the exit gates at about 8:45 a.m. and head coach Steven Davis had just finished addressing his team when fans in the stadium began to charge the gate in an apparent panic. A clamor of yelling and running could be heard as hundreds of people tried to exit the gate and enter the parking lot.
Police cars arrived with lights flashing.
At about 9 p.m., a police officer said an active investigation was under way.
About 10 minutes later, six police officers were surrounding two young men sitting on the sidewalk with their hands behind their backs.