Pa. Reporter Who Has Covered HS Football for 30+ Years Says He Has Never Seen an On-Field Incident Quite Like This

A Pennsylvania high school football player is facing potential criminal charges after he ripped the helmet off of an opponent and beat him with it during an on-field altercation.

Hamburg (Pa.) High quarterback and safety Joey Cominksy can be seen in the video below striking Annville-Cleona lineman Josh Hartmann twice in the head with the helmet, WGAL-TV reports. Police are currently reviewing the incident and are reportedly leaning towards pursuing charges.

WGAL-TV reporter Pat Principe said of the incident: "I did witness the whole thing from the sidelines and I've got to tell you, in my 30-plus years of covering high school football, I have never seen an incident quite like that."

Annville-Cleona athletic director Tommy Long told PennLive that it is "always disappointing when you see something like this."

"You certainly don't want to see a situation like this within the lines of a game -- football, basketball, wrestling, whatever," he added.

This Vine video uploaded by user @OBriBoost zeroes in on the helmet beating:

More details from Yahoo! Sports:

Both Cominsky and Annville-Cleona player Taylor Prentice, who belatedly entered the fray to break apart Cominsky and Hartmann -- were immediately ejected from the remainder of the game for their part in the fracas, with Hamburg holding on for a 25-22 win, overcoming a fierce comeback by Annville-Cleona after Cominsky was ejected.

Annville-Cleona coach Terry Lehman said that Hartmann avoided significant injury during the helmet attack, though he did have a scalp laceration that required him to miss some game time. He later returned to the contest. In a silver lining, Lehman said that the sordid ordeal may have even helped his team learn to play together more effectively.

Lehman commended his team for making a "positive out of a very horrible negative" and coming back to play as a team.

The coach also confirmed that Hartmann was "OK" after being attacked by Cominksy. "The Hamburg kid kinda flipped out and took the scrum to a completely different level," he added.

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