College Officials to Investigate Post-Game Brawl : Melee: A man remains hospitalized after coaches, players and crowd members were struck in fights following football match between Pierce and Harbor.

Officials from two community colleges said Sunday that they want to find out how a scuffle and a few nasty remarks after Saturday’s football game between Pierce College and Harbor College escalated into a full-fledged melee with more than 200 participants.

The fights broke out as the two teams were leaving the Harbor College field in Wilmington after the Woodland Hills team had defeated Harbor 23-0. Three coaches from Pierce were struck, and so were players from both teams and participants from the crowd.

An angry Pierce head coach Bill Norton accused Harbor College campus police of being “extremely lackadaisical” and waiting too long to separate the players.

Pierce co-offensive line coach Pat Swift was knocked unconscious and suffered head injuries when a Harbor player grabbed a crutch and struck him on the head. Swift remained hospitalized Sunday. His condition was upgraded from serious to stable.

Harbor player Dion Mills, 19, of Carson turned himself in to police Saturday evening at the Harbor Division station and was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon before posting $35,000 bail.

Norton said Swift was rushing to the aid of a player being chased by nine Harbor players and fans when he was struck.

None of the coaches on either team would comment on disciplinary actions being considered against players, saying they needed more information.

At one point Saturday, there were several fights going at once as the players headed to their adjacent locker rooms near the field. Then, when things appeared to be settling down, some Pierce players ran out of their locker room to fight Harbor players and fans who they believed had struck Swift, Norton and some of their teammates.

Harbor head football coach Don Weems said: “I don’t think anybody was to blame. The unfortunate thing was that somebody got hurt. . . . We’re going to try to take a hard look at what happened, sort it out and learn from it.”

Weems declined to comment on Norton’s criticisms of campus police, who are sworn officers employed by the Los Angeles Community College District.

Harbor College Security Officer Eugene Gaines said only two campus officers were assigned to the game, and that two other campus officers also happened to be present. They all responded immediately, he said, and called for about 50 backup officers from the Los Angeles Police Department, including air support.

“We only had four officers, when we needed 50 to control the whole situation,” Gaines said. “We did a helluva job under the circumstances.”