RACINE - It was the end of an era Saturday night and it ended on a pretty messy note.

In a game that was called with 1:42 to play when fights broke out after an onside kick, the Kane County Eagles defeated the Racine Raiders 24-13 in a North American Football League game at Horlick Field.

"We just didn't want things to get out of hand," said official Jim O'Brien after multiple player ejections were announced to what was left of the crowd of 1,309.

It marked the last time Keith Hac, who has won 22 of 25 games against the Raiders since 1998, will coach against Racine. Hac said that he, owner Arnie Silvestri and general manager Alan Perkins are leaving the team after this season to concentrate their efforts on running the Chicago Slaughter of the Continental Indoor Football League.

Hac had doubled as coach of both teams the last two seasons.

"This is our last game in Racine," said Hac, who has coached the Eagles to three national championships. "Recruiting with the Eagles has suffered, we haven't been able to put as much time into the Eagles as we want and all our time and energy is being focused on the Slaughter."

Said Raiders coach John Mamerow, "If that is true, it's sad to see them go because we all play good football. It's always a good football game."

That was certainly the case Saturday night, when the Eagles were outgained in yards 105-52 in the first half, but still led 3-0 at halftime after a Raiders'

turnover set up a 33-yard field goal by John Haight.

While the Eagles improved to 8-1-1 and the Raiders fell to 4-7, guaranteeing them of their first losing regular season since 1978, this Kane County team seemed ripe for the picking.

With starting quarterback Sam Clemons in California for a work seminar and backup Curtis Gordon arriving late, the Eagles were forced to play wide receiver LeRoy McFadden behind center. The dropoff was evident as the Eagles managed just 52 yards in the first half.

Raiders quarterback Brent Ferdinand went down with a sprained ankle late in the first quarter after completing six of eight passes for 119 yards, forcing Mamerow to turn to Chris Walsh. The 5-foot-8 Walsh had his moments, but was also intercepted three times.

The Eagles seemed to be sparked when Gordon opened the second half at quarterback. The left-handed Gordon was able to make plays in the face of a heavy pass rush and went on to complete eight of 15 passes for 120 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for 28 yards and a score on three attempts.

Gordon gave the Eagles a 10-0 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter when he found a wide-open Charles Owens in the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown pass.

Walsh came back with his most impressive series of the game, driving the Raiders downfield on the strength of passes that covered seven yards to Sam D'Alie, 21 yards to Dorian Palmer and 14 to Nick Bekeris. Bryan Jennings Jr. capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 9:23 to play as the Raiders pulled to within 10-7.

But that was as close as the Raiders would get. On Racine's next series, Walsh was intercepted by Owen Gillehand, setting the stage for a drive that enabled the Eagles to take a 17-7 lead with 3:47 to play.

Walsh was again intercepted on the first play of the Raiders' following series and Kane County went on to take a 24-7 lead.

With the help of a pass interference penalty on Kane County that gave the Raiders a first-and-goal at the Raiders' 5-yard line, Jennings scored his second touchdown (Jordan Brown, who was replacing Ben Aguilar as placekicker after Aguilar went to San Antonio for an Arena League tryout, missed the extra point).

But after the onside kick, during which fighting broke out, the game was called.

"I'm disappointed they called the game," Mamerow said. "We were only 11 points out at the time, so a field goal and a two-point conversion in 1:24, who knows?"