Updated: No plans to reschedule Downingtown West at Coatesville football
CALN- The much anticipated Ches-Mont National Division showdown between Downingtown West at Coatesville Friday night was canceled due to online threats that law enforcement deemed credible.
According to Brian Chenger, athletic director at Coatesville, there are no current plans to reschedule the game.
Early Friday morning, Coatesville interim superintendent Rick Dunlap made the decision to have the game go on as planned but would not allow spectators inside Coatesville Memorial Stadium. But at 1:15 Friday afternoon, Dunlap released this statement canceling the game.
“Due to additional information received by local law enforcement, tonight’s Coatesville and Downingtown West game will be canceled. Earlier today we had made a decision to play the game with no spectators due to threats of violence that law enforcement seemed credible.
“The Coatesville High School campus was dismissed early today and the campus will be closed to all activities tonight. Homecoming activities for tomorrow are still scheduled to run as planned. We will provide updates as needed. Again, we are very disappointed to have to make this decision, but out of an abundance of caution for our students, staff, and community.”
The cancellation comes at the end of a tumultuous week for the Coatesville football team. Red Raider head coach Matt Ortega and two of his assistants, Will Keylor and Steve Brazzle, were on administrative leave due to unknown occurrences and were not at the teams practices this week.
Downingtown West, who sports a 5-1 overall record and is 1-0 in Ches-Mont National Division play, was trying to knock Coatesville from the undefeated ranks, and the Whippets head coach, Mike Milano was despondent about the cancellation.
“My kids, my entire staff, and I am disappointed to not be playing tonight,” Milano said.
Ches-Mont League president and West Chester Henderson principal Dr. Jason Sherlock when asked Friday night if the Ches-Mont League has a league policy regarding this issue said:
“The league does not have a set policy and I do not know the particulars of this situation right now,” Sherlock said. “We will meet with both schools, and we will be working with them on this issue.”
Not rescheduling this game means both Downingtown West and Coatesville will only play nine regular season games this season. This will affect the Ches-Mont National Division standings and District 1 playoff points. The two teams will now be judged an average for a nine-game season instead of 10 games for the upcoming district playoffs.
