Walkersville High School’s star center, Jordan Dixon, stood at the free-throw line. His team had a healthy lead against Middletown High School in its Feb. 18 matchup and the Knights fans were getting restless. As Dixon prepared to shoot, the crowd was loud. Dixon, unfazed, sank both shots. Frustrated, some of the fans started to get angry and their mood spilled onto the floor in the form of swear words and ridicule.
That’s when Middletown’s administrators stepped in.
“Fans need to eliminate the targeting of officials and individuals but continue to cheer hard for the Knights,” said Jay Berno, MHS principal.
That’s the way things had started. Middletown students were on their feet the entire game. It’s only when the game started to get out of reach for the Knights that the student section became out of control.
Dressed in orange and black and having pride for their school, students forgot about the game and decided trying to match the intensity of Walkersville’s fans was more important.
“We wanted to keep our respect. We didn’t like losing to our rivals and Walkersville fans started some cheers, so we answered back with better ones,” said John Phelps, MHS senior.
Walkersville’s players and fans weren’t the only targets of the fans’ wrath; the student section also tortured the officials.
Middletown fans have a tradition for getting the referees names before the game. Armed with this information, they use it in positive and negative ways.
In this case, perceived bad calls by the referees resulted in their names being called out by a whole student section – and the things said were far from positive.
Administrators weren’t the only ones who noticed.
Tim Ambrose, MHS athletic director, thought the cheers were over the line.
“The fans haven’t been good lately,” said Ambrose. “I’m a hundred percent for school spirit in the right way. At the Walkersville game, I lost some respect for Middletown fans.”
Some fans feel the rules are somewhat harsh at Middletown. Many think that often any type of chant that students start themselves is stopped immediately.
“Some of the rules are ridiculous,” said MHS senior Zack Haines. “We are in high school and it’s not like the Walkersville students didn’t cheer either.”
Haines and many other students feel that they, as high school students, should have more privileges and shouldn’t be hassled by the school all the time.
Not all MHS students felt the verbal assaults were needed.
“I thought it was overboard even if they are our rival,” said Taylor Bradshaw, MHS senior. “It’s okay to be loud and rowdy, but don’t be rude to a player.”
Administrators have taken steps to make sure the same situation doesn’t occur in the playoffs.
Over the announcements, the school has given the fans some simple rules, most of which are state laws for playoff games, such as no noisemakers and signs that have to be checked by the school.
However, some students will likely fight the school and challenge them, but that could end up bad for them. They will escort from the gym any fan who contributes to the disrespect to the visiting team.
Kevin Lynott, MHS varsity football coach, said that most of the teachers and any one involved in the school love Middletown’s school spirit; they just want it to be a positive atmosphere directed toward Middletown and not negative cheers directed at the visiting team.
Most students think that won’t be a problem. The Walkersville game was against a long-time rival and behavior like this isn’t a common thing for Middletown students.
“We’re going to clean up our chants. The big reason for some of the cheers was because we were playing Walkersville,” said MHS senior Jaraad Yates.
Berno has received multiple e-mails from parents, administrators at other schools, and other people who were at the game.
“The e-mails said that Walkersville kids were upset that cheers were so personal,” said Berno.
Berno said he still believes in the Middletown fans. He expects the students to come out and cheer hard at the home playoff game against Clarksburg High.