Brawl Ends Game Between Colleges

Tuesday, February 20th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) â€” Two women were hospitalized and a man arrested after at least three fights erupted during Monday night's game between rivals Miles College and Stillman.

Police emptied W.F. ``Bill'' Harris State Fair Arena, where more than 2,000 people watched until the game was canceled after five minutes of play.

``We just couldn't get the scuffles under control,'' police Capt. Rick Dixon said. ``There's only one way to handle that.''

The two women, whose names and ages were unavailable, were hospitalized, the Birmingham News reported. Their status was not immediately available.

A few minutes after tip-off, a member of the Stillman band walked to the Miles band across the arena and strolled through their ranks, said Sharon Whittaker, vice president of student affairs for Stillman College.

Words were exchanged and someone hit him, she said.

That's when members of both schools' football teams, cheering boisterously, moved through the stands toward each other, Whittaker said.

Security officers and school officials moved the fighters to the court: ``We tried to calm them down and appeal to their sense of reason and maturity,'' Whittaker said.

By then, off-duty officers working the game called police. Play resumed and an announcement was made warning the crowd to stop fighting, said Letre Kelly, a sophomore forward for Miles College.

When a third scuffle broke out, police ended the game. More scuffles broke out in the parking lot outside the arena, but police ended the fighting within minutes.

Miles was ahead 10-5 when the game was called off. Official said the game would be completed sometime in the future.