Investigation continues into threat that led to football game cancellation
Charleroi Area School District is continuing to investigate an alleged threat against one of its student-athletes that led to the cancellation of the Friday night football game between Charleroi and Monessen high schools.
Ed Zelich, Charleroi’s superintendent, said the district’s resource officer was investigating the threat, apparently made by a Monessen student on social media.
The threat allegedly stated the Charleroi student would be shot after the game.
“It’s time to heal now,” Zelich said Monday.
Both Charleroi and Monessen had been due to kick off their football seasons with an evening match-up at Monessen Memorial Stadium, but those plans were derailed after district officials were made aware of the threat around 11:30 a.m. Friday. Despite assurances from officials in the Monessen district the threat was not credible, Zelich decided Charleroi would not participate in the game.
“The community members I talked to were very disappointed,” said Leanne Spazak, superintendent of Monessen City School District, via email. “Many took the day off to attend, and family members were coming from out of town to attend.”
Spazak also said Monessen officials did not believe it was necessary to cancel the game, so it will not be rescheduled.
“We were already well prepared,” Spazak said. The district was working with police for both the city and school district, and the bags of players and fans are checked upon entry to the stadium, she explained. Metal detectors are also deployed at games.
Monessen’s athletic programs were placed on a five-year probation in February following a brawl that broke out between Monessen and Clairton players at a boy’s basketball game. Six adults and six teenagers were charged with disorderly conduct following the incident. Zelich said that did not figure into his calculations when he decided to withdraw Charleroi from the game.
“Nothing else played into it,” he said.
The neighboring districts will continue to cooperate on academic programs through the 2018-19 academic year, Zelich said. Despite the long-running sports rivalry between the two schools, Zelich explained the cancellation of one game is pretty small in the whole scheme of things.
“If this is the worst that happens to us all year long, then we’re going to have a pretty good school year,” he said.