ST. LOUIS – An emotional high school football game in Massillon, Ohio, on Friday night ended with police macing Cardinal Ritter College Prep players.

Video captured by Dylan Kelley, CEO of DPK.Captures, shows what appears to be uniformed officers spraying Cardinal Ritter players. The spraying continued even as players appear to be backing away from the field. Kelley said the incident began with some fighting during the postgame handshake. He said coaches were separating the players when police stepped in.

“It escalated very quickly and the cops pulled out their pepper spray a little after the fact of when they were separated,” Kelley said.

Parents say several Cardinal Ritter players were affected, including Ashley Ashburn’s 16-year-old son, D.J.

“He got maced pretty bad in his eyes and it made him immediately drop to his knees,” she said.

Kelley, who recorded the video, said players on the two teams had been fighting the whole game, but he was stunned by what he saw.

“It was just so shocking to see that happen in front of me,” he said. “It was very eye-opening. Like, why would this happen? Why would you pepper-spray, mace a bunch of high schoolers?”

Cardinal Ritter’s president Tamiko Armstead released a statement saying, “We are aware of the incident that occurred at the Massillon, OH, football game last week, and we were very troubled by a video of what happened.”

Armstead added that Cardinal Ritter is helping families and witnesses file formal complaints with the Ohio police department. She said the school has also reached out to the Ohio State Athletics Association about any possible actions they can take.

FOX 2 reached out to Massillon City Schools Monday afternoon but have not heard back at time of publication. Cantonrep.com asked the coach about the incident in a postgame interview.

“I have no idea. Next question,” the coach said on Friday night.

Ashburn said she still has not received a clear explanation for what happened.

Massillon Police said it had no comment at this time. An incident report was not yet available for release when FOX 2 requested it. Ashburn is hoping to get more questions answered.

“It was very disheartening when I saw the video,” she said. “It was alarming. I’m steady asking questions, like what happened? Was it a fight? Did the police give some kind of warning?”

She says she has also contacted the Ohio Civil Rights Commission regarding the incident.