WINTER HAVEN, FL (WFTS) — A youth football game in Polk County ended in a fight involving adults, prompting the Polk County Sheriff’s Office to open an investigation.
Sharod Odom, a youth football coach in Lakeland, said he attended Saturday’s game between HOA 30 Kartel and the Plant City Colts Certified Strikers, and that a fight broke out just as the 8U teams finished playing.
Watch report from Rebecca Petit
Odom, who has coached youth football for about five years, said the competition between teams can be intense, but the relationships coaches build with their players go beyond the game.
“We don't know what these kids are going through,” Odom said. “I drive with a lot of kids every day and I get to sit down and talk to them, and that’s what makes our culture real big because it’s more of a chemistry, a family thing.”
Odom said the atmosphere initially appeared positive as people congratulated one another after the game.
“Everybody walking, saying good game, good game. A moment, hands go to swinging, brawls go to happening and people go to pushing, and it just broke out from there. It got real wild out there,” Odom said.
Deputies responded to the scene, but the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said everyone involved had left by the time deputies arrived.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said investigators are working to identify those involved and pursue charges.
“The kids behaved, the coaches and the parents didn’t, and we are going to criminally charge those that were disorderly and those that participated in an affray,” Judd said.
Judd said those involved could face misdemeanor charges.
Some witnesses told Tampa Bay 28 the fight may have stemmed from disputes over bets placed on the game’s outcome. That claim has not been independently confirmed.
Judd said he plans to send undercover detectives to youth football games to investigate illegal betting.
“I’m going to send undercover detectives to these youth football games,” Judd said. “And when I catch you betting, we’re going to charge you. You don't go to youth football games to bet on children playing sports. Not now, not ever.”
Tampa Bay 28 reached out to both teams for comment but have not received a response.
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