SAN DIEGO - Two men who kicked and punched a sailor after two groups exchanged words at a Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium last fall were sentenced Friday to a year in a work furlough program and probation.

Jesus N. Garcia and George McCubbin, both 24, pleaded guilty Jan. 6 to felony assault with a deadly weapon.

Alberto Vasquez, 21, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, was taken into custody on a drug and weapons case and will be sentenced March 14 for his involvement in the fight, said Deputy District Attorney Steve Walter.

Judge Christine V. Pate told Garcia and McCubbin that as married men with children, the "brutality" they exhibited at the Oct. 10 game was "unacceptable."

The fact that the defendants had full-time jobs prompted the judge to allow them to serve their custody in a work furlough program.

Garcia and McCubbin must also take a 20-hour anger management course as a condition of their three-year probation, the judge said.

"I'm giving you the opportunity to continue to work … don't abuse it," the judge said.

Walter unsuccessfully argued that the defendants do their custody time in jail because of the "viciousness" of the attack.

"What happened here is becoming all too common," the prosecutor said.

He said the court needed to make the public aware that they could go to a sporting event and "do that safely."

Once the taunting and arguing got out of hand, Garcia and McCubbin had to walk or run down several rows of seats to get to the victim and another person who suffered minor injuries, Walter told the judge.

"It was essentially a pack of dogs descending on these victims," the prosecutor said.

Pate said the victims' "lack of denial" about things that happened at the game had some influence on how she sentenced the defendants.

"There was a little `Two to Tango' here that went on,"' the judge said.

She ordered the defendants to stay away from gangs and perform community service once they finish their custody.

McCubbin's attorney, James Fitzpatrick, said at the time of the pleas that 23-year-old Eric Pierce threw an empty water bottle and hit a child sitting with a man in a wheelchair from the defendants' group.

When Pierce refused to apologize, the melee was on, Fitzpatrick said.

The Navy man was knocked unconscious and treated at a hospital for a concussion, authorities said.

The attorney told the judge Friday that McCubbin shattered his ankle when he jumped into the altercation.

"He did come to the aid of a friend," Fitzpatrick said of his client. "He clearly came to it after it began."