Marauders football coach: ‘It was a little bit chaotic’

Friday night’s high school football game between Mukilteo School District rivals Mariner and Kamiak was stopped with less than 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter after gunshots reportedly were fired near Goddard Stadium.

In a Twitter post, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reported an altercation among juveniles in the parking lot. The school resource officer went to the lot and heard five or six shots fired nearby, according to a news release. It is unknown who fired them.

There were no reported injuries as a result of the shots. Investigators recovered multiple casings from the 12200 block of Fourth Avenue W.

Mariner football coach Mark Stewart said he didn’t hear the gunshots from the sidelines.

“We didn’t hear anything (on the field),” he said. “The first thing we saw was people in the stands were moving. Everybody was trying to clear out the stands. … Everybody was trying to get into a safe spot — trying to figure out which direction to go on the field.”

Stewart said police officers arrived quickly and helped move the crowd out of the stadium and toward the east side of campus, away from the main parking lot.

“It was kind of a little bit chaotic, trying to get that many people out of the stadium in that situation,” Stewart said. “… It got pretty organized pretty quick once they decided to get everybody moving east.”

With the stadium being cleared, Stewart said players were told to go home instead of hanging around in the locker rooms.

“Away from the stadium was probably the best place (to go),” he said. “It calmed down after about a half-hour. … Just that initial two- or three-minute period was pretty confusing.”

Mariner led 40-13 when the game was suspended. The contest is considered final.