scrimmage

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
scrimmage/ˈskrɪmɪʤ/

▶noun

• 1 a confused struggle or fight.

• 2 American Football a sequence of play beginning with the placing of the ball on the ground with its longest axis at right angles to the goal line.

▶verb American Football engage in a scrimmage.

■ put (the ball) into a scrimmage.

– derivatives
scrimmager noun.

– origin ME: alt. of dial. scrimish, var. of skirmish.