AFA's Harridge to Play vs. North Texas
9/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 8, 2003
Air Force senior quarterback Chance Harridge will play this week as the Falcons host North Texas on Saturday, Sept. 13, at noon in Falcon Stadium. The Bonaire, Ga., product was ejected from the Northwestern game last week. The Mountain West Conference verified on Sunday that the Big Ten Conference officials report states Harridge was ejected for a flagrant personal foul, not for fighting as was originally thought.
Harridge reacted to a blow to the chin he received from a Northwestern assistant coach following a play in which he was tackled and fumbled near the Wildcat sideline. Tapes show the assistant coach was clearly on the playing field when he struck Harridge with his left forearm/elbow. Harridge reacted by punching the assistant coach in the side.
"We don't condone what Chance did, but his reaction was an instinctive one," Air Force Director of Athletics Col. Randy Spetman said. "Chance is a fiery competitor, but to strike someone is certainly out of character for him. It was a very unusual situation for an assistant coach to be on the playing field and to strike a player."
The Academy has submitted tapes of the incident to the MWC office, the Big Ten office and to Northwestern for their review.
Harridge was ejected during the third quarter of the game. Air Force came from behind to defeat Northwestern, 22-21, to improve to 2-0 on the season. Harridge rushed for 45 yards on seven carries and hit two of seven passes for 51 yards before leaving the game.
