The closing seconds of the XFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks-D.C. Defenders game on Sunday dissolved into piles of pushing and shoving, a few punches and one long-distance helmet throw that brought players off the sidelines onto the field.

Three players were disqualified before the Defenders snapped the football for a kneel-down to close their 34-28 victory at Audi Field in Washington.

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On Tuesday, XFL President Russ Brandon imposed the league’s discipline for the altercation, with three players receiving suspensions, including former Auburn standout Gabe Wright, a D.C. defensive tackle who must sit out one game.

Among the six players fined for their actions on Sunday was Defenders linebacker Jamal Brooks, a South Alabama alumnus.

Defenders linebacker Francis Bernard and Battlehawks offensive lineman Jaryd Jones-Smith received two-game suspensions.

Also fined an undisclosed amount were D.C. cornerback Anthoula Kelly and guard Rod Taylor and St. Louis defensive back Nate Meadows, linebacker Travis Feeney and running back Brian Hill.

Bernard, Hill and Taylor were the players who were ejected by the officiating crew.

The fined D.C. defensive-line coach Jeremy Watkins and St. Louis special-teams coordinator Tory Woodbury, too.

In announcing the penalties, the XFL noted the suspended players could not practice or play but could attend team meetings, fitness workouts ad meals and warned future violations would lead to more severe discipline, including the possibility of contract termination.

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The altercation began after Battlehawks quarterback AJ McCarron was sacked by outside linebacker Davin Bellamy on a fourth-and-15 play as St. Louis sought to keep the football trailing by six points with 22 seconds to play.

After McCarron threw his fourth touchdown pass of the game, the Battlehawks used an XFL rule that had helped them win their season-opener. It allows a trailing team seeking to keep the football to substitute a fourth-and-15 snap at its 25-yard line in place of an onside kick.

After the game, the former Alabama All-American was critical of the officiating crew’s performance, including on St. Louis’ final snap.

“The league’s got to figure out a way to get some of these calls right,” McCarron said. “We had three to four times in the game when the refs came back to us and said, ‘We missed that call’ and apologized – straight-up apologized. And it was times where you can’t miss those calls. One in the first half keeps our drive alive, they missed a call. The intentional grounding on Jordan right before they kicked a field goal. …

“And I want to see the clip, but I think it was helmet-to-helmet on fourth-and-15 on me, and then the dude power-drives me at the end. It’s some of these things where we got to protect guys, too, and I’m not talking about just myself. I think we can’t come back on some of these plays and apologize and say, ‘Hey, that’s our bad.’ There’re some things we got to get right. I mean, we haven’t had a defensive pass interference in three games. I’ve never played football in my entire life and not had one defensive pass interference. …

“And it’s not taking away from D.C. D.C. won today. They won the game. They played better.”

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.