Video showing the tension becoming physical at Monday night’s York High School basketball game against Muhlenburg.
Moments after the buzzer sounded at the end of Muhlenberg’s 66-63 victory over the Bearcats, several fans from both schools got involved in a confrontation, resulting in several people being taken out of the gym in handcuffs.
Six people are facing charges, according to a school spokesperson, adding in a statement, "Even when tensions are high, the district expects all guests to behave respectfully. The vast majority of the many people who attended monday’s game acted accordingly."
But to be safe, Thursday night’s game against Northern High School will be closed to the public.
“I know it is more fun for our guys to play in front of a big crowd. It’s nice, it builds energy in the gym, kind of gets you pumped up a little bit, so it will be a little different,” said Kyle McGill, coach of Northern High School.
McGill calls the situation unfortunate, not just for his players, but for the players at York as well.
“We wish them well. The kids have worked hard to get to this point, I know it’s going to be disappointing that they have a home game that they aren’t going to have their own fans there for them. We’re all in the same situation. We told our guys to just treat it like a summer league game,” said McGill.
PIAA District III chairman Ron Kennedy says each team will be allowed 30 tickets so that family is able to come watch the game, which he says has been changed from 7pm to 5pm.
And McGill says his team won’t let this get in the way of a great game, and he hopes York feels the same.
“It’s still going to be good competition. We hope our guys and their guys can put on a good show for everybody that gets to see them game and enjoy themselves,” said McGill.
Each person charged in relation to Monday night’s incident will be banned from attending future school district sporting events.
York will not have another home game this season, and Kennedy says he is not sure at what point tickets will be offered to the public again.
The game will be available on a livestream.