So much emotion poured from West's bench during its football game against Hunter on Friday night. Coaches screamed instructions at players on the field, the bench rocked with excitement during big plays and hearts adorned sleeves. The same could be said for the Hunter sideline.

But there was no moment more telling of the teams' emotions than with 18 seconds remaining. Hunter had just found the end zone to close the score to 21-10 and decided to execute an onside kick. In the ensuing pileup, a tussle began for the ball. Eventually, Hunter sophomore Leve Bloomfield lost his head and turned his focus from trying to pry the ball loose to throwing punches into the ribs of West's Percy Anguilau.

West's offense was headed

onto the field, anticipating a change of possession, but when it realized what was happening to its teammate, several players sped to break the situation up. Several other West players also ran across the field, and Hunter players responded. The situation was tense, but players acted to pull each other away more than to instigate. Both teams returned to their bench and the remainder of the game was played. The Utah High School Activities Association spent time Monday watching the game film from both teams to determine what repercussions are in order.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been," West coach Justin Spencer said. "I was proud of both teams being able to calm down."

It was a remarkable turn of events followed by

an equally remarkable turn. What had seemed a clean -- yet tense -- game suddenly reached a breaking point. But when the game ended, the high-strung players and coaches soon became genuinely concerned and caring. The players lined up to shake hands, an opportunity begging for trash-talk and a return to poor sportsmanship. However, both teams slowly shook each others hands, some embracing every player through the line with a second arm around the shoulder. Hunter players posed with West players for pictures and Spencer and Hunter coach Dustin Pearce shared a few moments ensuring each other that no hard feelings persisted.

"It was a physical game and both sides played hard and there's a lot of emotion involved," Pearce said.

Pearce spoke with Bloomfield on Monday morning and said that Bloomfield was remorseful for his actions and that he knows that he just got caught up in the moment and made a "sophomore mistake." As for Anguilau, trainers initially thought he had a cracked rib. He was circled by his teammates after the game, shirtless and wrapped in bandages, as they completed Panther jumping jacks. Anguilau's ribs are bruised and he will likely sit out practice and maybe this weekend's game.

Two other Hunter players were initially ejected from the game for leaving the bench. One was La'au Tanavasu, but it is widely believed his suspension will be lifted since he was already on the field before the fracas ensued.

The major concern for West, said Spencer, is whether or not it will have its starting offensive line. As the offense entered the field to take over possession, the offensive line charged the pileup first.

"I just assumed that the West kids were just coming onto the field for a change of possession," Pearce said. "It'd be sad if some kids got suspended for that."

The strategy for West in practice on Monday was to rotate starting offensive linemen with second string linemen to get both some preparation in case some starters are suspended for their game against Skyline. With such a dominant rushing attack exhibited by the Panthers on Friday, losing the core of that offense would be tough to absorb.

"It will be very difficult for us to overcome that," Spencer said.

Hunter is no stranger to fights in recent years. A preseason eating contest against Bingham in 2004 eventually escalated into a short brawl on live television. And when a playoff game in 2007 against American Fork suddenly swung the way of the Cavemen, a game-ending fight erupted. But the reaction of the team Friday was a much more positive result to a potentially horrific episode. One player lost his cool for a short time and the majority of his team spent its energy taming the situation. Pearce adamantly refuted connections between previous incidents and the one last weekend.

"I don't think that's an accurate reflection of my football team or my program," Pearce said. "I think we've made a turn for the better in our program."