Fans, players shouldn't have to worry about safety at high school football games

For decades, Friday Night Football was an enjoyable event for the whole family in which high school students, parents and children from the community could come out to cheer on the home team.

Two incidents during the 2022 opening weekend provided another reminder that things aren't how they used to be at high school games.

Late in Abington's 26-8 Suburban One League non-conference loss at Cheltenham, "physical altercations broke out among a small group of spectators and many other spectators began to run — some in one direction and some in another direction," according to a message sent by Cheltenham High principal Jimmy D'Andrea.

Members of the Cheltenham Township Police Department and Cheltenham School District security personnel "immediately responded." The game was halted with a little over one minute remaining and all fans exited the premises.

While rumors indicated a weapon might have been involved, police determined that wasn't the case and that nobody had been injured, according to the principal.

With 10:51 remaining in the Aug. 25 Bonner-Prendergast game at Upper Darby, fans ran onto the field in response to a fight and apparent fear it was escalating, according to the Delaware County Daily Times. The game was called and Bonner-Prendie ended up with a 12-0 victory.

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A year ago on opening weekend, 8-year-old Fanta Bility was killed and three others wounded while leaving the season-opening Academy Park game against visiting Pennsbury when three policemen fired their weapons in response to two teenagers who initially shot at each other.

The Pennsbury players ran to the other side of the field and exited away from the crime scene. They left their belongings in Delaware County, which parents later returned to retrieve, and went back to Lower Bucks.

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In response, District One sent an updated email to member schools that initially went out following the Academy Park shooting roughly one year ago. Relatively general in nature, the email features suggestions such as asking schools to be more aware of what's going on, bolstering security if they deem it necessary and contacting local police to see if the authorities can stay as close to the stadium while out on patrol during games, according to multiple athletic directors.

Some schools have increased their security personnel, including an inhouse school police detail and local police presence, as well as employees that monitor everything from behavior in the home student section and the visiting stands to making sure the officials safely make their way to and from the field, among other measures.

As for Cheltenham, it is implementing additional measures for Friday night's home date against Perkiomen Valley to make "all students and attendees at events feel safe," according to the principal's message.

At Bensalem, which lost to Central Bucks East 42-0 last Friday, Owls athletic director Geoff Per and staff did not allow reentry to the game and all middle school students had to be accompanied by a parent, which were changes from before.

Some schools apparently have made few, if any, security changes. Multiple athletic directors in the Courier Times/Intelligencer coverage area said their schools implemented revised plans for safety at these football games. However, they didn't want to say what is being done differently because they don't want folks to be able to take advantage if they know the complete setup.

The days of meeting friends at Bucks County games in the 1970s and '80s without worrying if somebody might pull a knife or gun seem like an incredibly long time ago.

What a shame that these are decisions schools must make, but this is the world we're living in today.

Tom Moore: tmoore@couriertimes; @TomMoorePhilly

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Fans, players shouldn't have to worry about safety at football games