Fighting has no place in youth football or in any youth sport for that matter.

But, unfortunately, as in many aspects of life, what should be is not always reality.

Football is a physical, contact sport. There is pushing and shoving in the trenches, defensive linemen breaking through into the backfield to bring down running backs for losses and safeties coming in on blitzes to sack quarterbacks.

Football also is about controlling emotions to focus on the next play, but sometimes tempers rise.

Even at the youth football level as I witnessed firsthand at a recent game involving my son’s team.

Last Sunday, the Red Devils trailed, 12-6, and had the ball late in the fourth quarter. After a couple of first downs, there was about a minute left, and the Red Devils had one timeout remaining. On the next play, my son Bradley snapped the ball, and the result was a run for a few yards.

What happened next was disturbing, unfortunate and sad.

After Bradley and his fellow linemate congratulated each other on a successful block with a high five, a defensive player on the other team came over and proceeding to punch Bradley’s teammate multiple times for no reason. The boy didn’t back down and proceeded to defend himself by fighting back.

Bradley came to his teammate’s aid by pushing the opposing player down. Both teams, coaches and parents tried to break it up.

While the fight was going on, the two officials spotted the ball and started the clock. After cooler heads prevailed, Bradley led the offense up to the line, but before he could snap the ball, the clock ran out.

This situation brings to light what a parent’s responsibility is if something like this ever happens.

• Don’t step onto the field. When a parent sees a fight break out, the natural feeling is to try and help break it up. Don’t do this unless the game officials call you over for help. Even if your child is involved, stay in the spectator area. Some leagues, including the one my son plays in, will fine a parent for running onto the field unless he or she is volunteering on the chain gang. The coaches and officials are the only ones who should be involved unless they ask for help.
• Stay calm. These types of incidents are unfortunate but what follows can be worse – the blame game and finger pointing.
  • “That boy was punching my son!”
  • “What are you teaching your players over there?”
  •  “Hey ref! What were you looking at?”
• Calm down others. Screaming at players, coaches, officials or anybody else on the field will not help the situation. If there is an altercation, the best thing you can do is be a sideline peacemaker. Keep people from running on the field, try to calm down other parents, and try to ask one of the coaches what everyone could do.
• Discuss what happened as a football family. In the case of my son’s game, the fight was the last thing that happened before the clock ran out. The boys were upset enough that they lost, but the incident really affected everyone, including the coaches and parents. Once the game is over, the best thing to do is go home and relax. Let the coaches talk to the players and the parents at the next practice about what happened and how everybody handled things.

In a perfect world, there would be no fighting in youth sports – or any other level either – but it is something that happens. I don’t condone violence. It’s just not worth it. This is a game, and there shouldn’t be a reason to fight.

I don’t know why that kid starting punching Bradley’s teammate, and I don’t know if we’ll even find out the reason. At the end of the day, I was proud of my son for defending his teammate. I told him it should never have happened, but his reaction was natural.

Peter Schwartz is an anchor and reporter for the CBS Sports Radio Network. He also writes a CBS New York sports blog at http://newyork.cbslocal.com/tag/peter-schwartz/. You can follow him on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. Peter’s son Bradley plays for the Levittown Red Devils of the Nassau Suffolk Football League on Long Island in New York. His son Jared cheers on Bradley and then Bradley returns the favor when Jared is playing soccer.