Thousands of fans stormed the field and tore down goalposts after Oklahoma State's 44-10 college football victory over archrival Oklahoma, leaving at least 12 people injured, medical authorities said early Sunday.
Michael Authement, who heads the command post at emergency medical provider LifeNet EMS, told The Associated Press that a throng so big took to the field as the game ended that some fans were trampled and one person fell at least 15 feet onto concrete during a wild celebration by Oklahoma State fans.
OSU police told the Oklahoman that no one was injured during the tearing down of the goalposts. Several fans were injured jumping over the stands, Capt. Richard Atkins told the newspaper.
A student who was the most seriously injured is in guarded but stable condition at a hospital in Oklahoma City, OSU officials said Sunday night.
The student and an adult who had a medical episode during the game's second half were airlifted to Oklahoma City.
The university said eight other people were taken to a hospital, where six of them treated and released. Two of them were admitted for surgery on broken ankles. Three others got medical treatment at the stadium and didn't need hospitalization.
OSU President Burns Hargis said at a news conference Sunday night that he believes security did "everything they possibly could" to deal with the incident.
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Hargis told The Associated Press on Sunday night that "you couldn't put an army out there to keep that many people off the field."
OSU routed the Sooners on Saturday night to win the Big 12 championship. The Cowboys snapped an eight-game losing streak in the rivalry and won their first outright conference title since 1948 in the three-team Missouri Valley.
"They won the game and stormed the field and ripped down the goalposts and some were jumping off the stands and hit the field and others got trampled. It was a nasty deal," Authement said.
He said it took police at least 45 minutes to clear fans from the field at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. "Thousands of people stormed the field. You couldn't move there were so many people," he added.
AP photographs showed fans climbing atop the yellow goalposts and tearing them apart amid a crush of people on the field. Scores of hands stretched out to pull down the goalposts during the celebration.
