Blue Lives Matter Flag Plants Seeds For Postgame Fight

Emotions boiled over at the end of a Florida high school football game, and now the Orange County Sheriff’s Office wants to find out what went on between Wekiva High School and Mitchell High School during a Class 7A regional semifinal.

The fights being investigated by the sheriff's office can be seen on social media videos, which show what happened after Mitchell's 24-18 victory. Some from Wekiva have accused Mitchell players of using racial slurs. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the game started with Mitchell players running onto the field with a Blue Lives Matter flag and Wekiva players being booed as "most of them knelt during the national anthem."

“They were calling our boys the N-word the whole time,” a parent of a Wekiva player told the Sentinel. “The coaches told the referees and warned them in the third quarter that things could get out of hand because of it. The kids didn’t handle the situation properly, but this wasn’t a thing where the team lost and then ran across the field because of bad sportsmanship.”

Game officials noted in their reports that Wekiva started the postgame fight, which resulted in suspensions from the Florida High School Athletic Association. The FHSAA announced Thursday that it was fining both schools $500 and suspending 10 Wekiva players. Nine of those players must sit out five consecutive interscholastic contests, the Tampa Bay Times reports. One Wekiva player has been suspended from athletics for 12 months.

The official report was that Mitchell “was basically attacked by a few of the Wekiva players, resulting in the whole team from Wekiva charging over.”

Mitchell (11-0) plays Edgewater (6-2) tonight in the Class 7A playoffs.