Threat leads to cancellation of Monessen-Charleroi game
One of the most storied rivalries in the WPIAL, regardless of the sport, was supposed to continue Friday night as Charleroi was to play at Monessen in the season-opening football game.
However, Charleroi administration canceled the game and posted a statement on its website just before 2:30 p.m. on Friday which stated:
“Around 11:30 a.m. today we received information regarding a threat directed toward our student athletes at tonight’s away football game.
“Local law enforcement and school resource officers have been conducting an on-going investigation of these threats. Due to the serious nature of these threats, we have decided that it is in the best interest of our students to cancel/postpone this evening’s football game against Monessen to allow the law enforcement authorities to investigate.
“This decision has been made to ensure the health, safety and welfare of students, faculty, spectators and all community stakeholders attending the event.”
Charleroi Superintendent Dr. Ed Zelich explained how the events began.
“At around 11:30 a.m., our football coach (Lance Getsy) contacted me about some players being nervous about social media threats earlier in the morning and the student confirmed the threats (via) Snapchat, while adding there was a past history,” he said. “The student said he was told that he would be harmed after the game, so we began an investigation.
“I am not saying anyone is guilty, but there were accusations and it takes time for phone records.”
Zelich said he reached out to Monessen Superintendent Dr. Leanne Spazak, and she and athletic director Gina Naccarato met with Zelich for about a half-hour.
“We met around noon and discussed a plan to make sure everyone was safe, but it wasn’t enough time to make a decision for the whole community to be safe,” he said. “We decided to talk on the phone at 2 (p.m.) to share our findings.”
Monessen coach Mike Blainefield spent the day with his players because the school year had not started yet. He had the team go the elementary school for a team breakfast and then held a chalk talk with them.
He received a call from Naccarato while he was with the team, and was notified of what was going on.
“She stated that one or more of our kids may have been accused of making threats and she was trying to get more information before calling me back,” he said. “My attention immediately went from football to the situation.
“I gathered the team to talk to them, and they had no idea what I was talking about.”
Naccarato called Blainefield back 45 minutes later.
“She said one of our players was accused of threatening a Charleroi player through social media,” Blainefield said. “We have a policy that we don’t allow cellphones or social media into the locker room.”
Monessen’s players must walk through a metal detector every time they go into the team’s field house at the stadium.
“After meeting with the accused player and (Naccarato), it was taken out of my hands and I went back in with the kids to keep them calm and focused,” said Blainefield.
A conference call was held at 2 p.m. between school administration for both districts as well as the police chief for both communities to discuss the situation.
Spazak, High School principal Eric Manko, Naccarato, head football coach Mike Blainefield and Police Chief Jim Smith were in on the call for Monessen.
Zelich, high school principal Dr. Patty Mason, assistant high school principal Amy Nelson, school resource offer Ryan Brand, Police Chief Eric Porter and Athletic Director Brady Barbaro were in on the call for Charleroi.
“At 2 p.m. we asked Charleroi for physical proof of this threat and they were not able to provide us with any,” Naccarato said. “They chose not to come to Monessen to participate in the scheduled game.
“I feel bad for the players, coaches and fans of both communities, and it is a shame that a compromise couldn’t be reached to keep this long-standing rivalry going.”
“Monessen felt it was safe to play, but, respectfully, I wasn’t (in agreement) of that at the time,” Zelich said. “I feel really bad about it because it means a lot to both communities, but it is a different era, and if one person from either community got hurt, I would have to live with that.”
“(Zelich) was disappointed that we didn’t find any evidence, so we asked him how to proceed,” Blainefield said of the conference call. “Basically, he didn’t want to have the game tonight.
“We explained to him the precautions that we took by adding additional police officers so that there would be eight in the stands on each side, security on the field and it wasn’t enough to change his mind.”
Blainefield added there would have also been metal detectors at the different fan entrances.
“We asked him if there was anything else we could do to have the game tonight and at that point, he offered to have the game here tomorrow,” said Blainefield. “But, we couldn’t offer the same capacity of security tomorrow as we could tonight.
“At that time, he declined.”
Blainefield added that Smith described the detail and the kind of countermeasures that were taken as far as security goes.
“They assured the security of the students, student-athletes and the fans, but it wasn’t enough to appease (Zelich), unfortunately,” Blainefield said. “At that point, the decision (on the game) was out of our hands.”
“I asked to play the game (Saturday) at 10 a.m. or noon, and they declined,” Zelich said of moving the game to Saturday. “I didn’t have a problem with going back to Monessen to play (on Saturday), but we didn’t have enough time to do the investigation to make sure the whole community would be safe (if the game was played Friday night).
“I was trying to buy a few more hours so that we knew everyone would be safe.”
Blainefield fought back emotions throughout the interview, which he conducted while helping serve the team dinner.
“It is frustrating and more heartbreaking that you spend an entire offseason explaining the gravity of the rivalry and then there was a good buzz going on because it is two good teams,” he said. “People were coming from out of town for this game.
“Having to tell the kids, hours before kickoff, that they wouldn’t have a game was hard and there were tons of tears.
“It’s frustrating and now we have to keep them focused on what is ahead and get them past this moment.”
Considering that Monessen is on probation with the WPIAL, Naccarato said that she had already spoken with the WPIAL to make them aware of what was going on.