On Friday, October 6, a week of homecoming festivities was spoiled by a physical fight between students from North Mecklenburg and West Mecklenburg High Schools. At North Mecklenburg’s homecoming game between the two teams, several students decided to engage in an altercation outside the concession stand during the third quarter. As a result, the game was cut short and the school dance was postponed.
According to CMS, four students were involved in the brawl that left officials reeling. While the district did not provide further information, footage of the incident obtained by the Viking Voice indicated that several students were tackled to the ground by security personnel in an attempt to put an end to the fiasco. The reasons for the incident were unclear, as was the number of students from each school that were involved. According to WBT News’ Brett Jensen, the students were later charged by authorities.
After the incident, the crowd was asked to leave the stadium for safety reasons. Still, it was obstinate to some extent based on a statement by Principal Hood: “The game was ended with 6 minutes left on the clock [in the fourth quarter] to ensure that all spectators would clear the stadium and all student-athletes and coaches remained safe.” The statement implies that, for many minutes as the game continued, some of the crowd refused to exit the stadium, eventually leading to the game meeting an early end.
The altercation was the second such event in as many weeks for CMS, two weeks after the September 24 fight between Harding University School students in their game against North Mecklenburg. No students from North Mecklenburg were involved in that incident, which the Harding University principal called “an embarrassment to our community.”
The conflict between students put a damper on the festivities organized by the North Mecklenburg Student Government Association. Throughout the week, students participated in spirit week, including themed dress days, an ice cream social for seniors, and a pep rally. But the week will be remembered not for those events, nor the triumphant 34-6 victory by the football team, but for the physical violence perpetrated by a small section of the crowd. As Principal Hood’s statement concluded: “The events of the week were diminished by a group of students who chose to engage in a fight near the concession stand near the end of the third quarter.”
The events imperiled the homecoming dance, which was postponed from Saturday, October 7 to Saturday, October 28. The dance, should it occur as planned, will be North Mecklenburg’s first in a generation, as reported by the Viking Voice last year. The Student Government Association plans to accept tickets purchased for the October 7 dance or provide a full refund to students.
The episode at the homecoming game is not reflective of the North Mecklenburg community as a whole but is instead an instance of the actions of a few misconstrued as representative of an entire group of people. The events are unfortunate for the student-athletes on the football and cheerleading teams, the marching band, the Student Government Association, and the entire school community. The community can and should do better in the future, for the sake of everyone involved. 🆅
Image courtesy of @nm.fb.studentsection on Instagram.