Back then, from early grade school through about age 16 fights were common at school. We fought at recess. We fought in the bathrooms. We fought in the hallways. We fought walking home.
Best of all, no one was suspended. No one called the police. No one was sued. No one was sent to an "alternative school". No one was drugged with Ritalin.
There were a few bloody noses, split lips and black eyes. Bruises were common. The teachers would utter the words "Break it up you two" and the action would stop. No one ever seemed to get seriously hurt and our male aggressions were satisfied. We also knew the precise pecking order on the playground.
I'm an X'er but we had fights all the time too when I was in elementary and middle school (early 80s). There was more control through chemistry probably than you had though. Teachers wanted to put me on Ritalin but my mom (being a RN and knowing the dangers) said "No way". Some of my friends were not so lucky and they changed quickly. Hard to tell if it was just adolescence or the chemistry.
I recall just about the same intervention by the teachers. "Break it up you two"--yikes that phrase brought back some memories. We also used to get in snowballs fights, squirt gun fights (along with water balloons) and sometimes rock fights in the neighborhood. All in semi-rural CT.
We also used to run, play and shoot frogs with our BB guns from sunrise to sunset and I don't recall my parents saying anything other than "Be back by dinner".