If only we could claim that this is just a plot for an upcoming drama on the fictional field of television’s Dillon High, we would. Unfortunately though, it appears as if a serious breach is brewing between District of Columbia high school football teams and some Maryland counterparts over ugly allegations made earlier this fall during a game at Fort Hill High in Cumberland, Maryland.
On September 19, Dunbar High traveled west to the Maryland panhandle to play Fort Hill. In the third quarter, with the visitors leading 14-8, Dunbar coach Craig Jefferies abruptly pulled his team off the field in order to prevent, in his words, “a fight, which was inevitable at that point.” The reason? The Dunbar players claimed that their opponents were using racial epithets – including the n-word – to taunt them, and that the game officials did nothing to stop the behavior. Both the Fort Hill coaching staff and the officials deny that any racial epithets were used; there’s an ongoing investigation by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association into the matter.
But the alleged taunts have had wide-ranging consequences, regardless of whether or not they actually happened. D.C.’s McKinley Tech, who had been scheduled to play at Fort Hill on October 3rd, canceled their game based on orders from Troy Mathieu, the District of Columbia Public Schools director of athletics. Efforts to reschedule the game at McKinley’s field in the District have apparently been completely rebuffed. Fort Hill was finally able to play a scheduled home game against Prince George’s County’s Frederick Douglass High School on Friday night. Fort Hill won, 14-12, pushing their record to either 3-1 or 4-1, depending on which side of the Maryland-D.C. border you’re on.
Fort Hill, who has been to the Maryland Class 1A state championship game as recently as 2006 and won the title in 1997, had scheduled two District teams this season for the first time in years. The District’s hard-line stance of prohibiting teams from playing at Fort Hill not only costs young people chances to play, but could form a damaging ripple effect causing other non-Metro area Maryland teams to stop scheduling District opponents. While the accusations are serious and certainly merit investigation, we’re not sure if blacklisting teams from playing at Fort Hill – or anywhere – is necessarily the most even-headed response from DCPS.
So, what do you think? Should the District ban teams from competing at Fort Hill until it’s and other organization’s investigations have been completed?
