What was supposed to be a staged duel between mascots quickly turned into a very real brawl during a high school basketball game in Louisville, Ky., Friday night.
In the halftime show of a rivalry game, Louisville Male's Bulldog and DuPont Manual's Ram started off engaging in a fake fight before students realized it had progressed to an all-out slugfest. As seen in the video above, the mascots had to be separated while Male students stormed the court.
According to WHAS 11, the tension extended to the end of the game, when dozens of students outside the arena engaged in an even bigger brawl, hurling bottles -- and fists -- at each other.
"The mascots was like a little preschool fight," one student told WHAS 11. "When we stepped out into the parking lot, that's when things got real."
Male and Manual have a pretty storied rivalry dating back to 1893. In fact, as many have pointed out on Twitter, Male principal Ted Boehm appeared in a YouTube video detailing the rivalry in 2010 and spoke about the violence the matchup has sparked in the past.
"We used to meet downtown and fight each other before they played the ballgame," Boehm said.
In 2009, 25 students were suspended for a prank involving vandalism preceding a matchup between the two football teams. As WDRB reported at the time, the stunts went beyond the usual innocuous acts, with students from both sides using spray paint and manure to vandalize their rival's property.