Fight Ends Germantown Football Game; SVHS Promises Extra Support

GERMANTOWN, MD —A football game Friday night at Seneca Valley High School ended early after multiple fights broke out, numerous reports confirm.

The fight broke out during a game between Seneca Valley High School and rival Northwest High School. According to the Montgomery County Police Department, officers arrived at the scene and confirmed a group of people had been fighting. Police removed the students involved in the fight, just before school authorities decided to end the game early.

SVHS Principal Marc J. Cohen said in an open letter sent Saturday that rumors of a gun at the scene are unfounded. Cohen also said that a 15-year-old student was transported to the hospital, but that was because he suffered an injury trying to climb a fence to get into the game, and the student’s parents have confirmed that.

Cohen said that he is reaching out to parents and students to address what he said was an “increase in fighting behaviors that we have seen this school year.” Cohen also said that the school will see additional security, counselors, central office staff, and MCPD officers starting Monday morning. He said that the school will be reaching out for additional support from the MCPS Department of School Safety and Security, the Department of Student and Family Support and Engagement, the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, and the Montgomery County Police Department “to help us address this significant challenge.”

During the 2019-20 school year, 16 Seneca Valley students were suspended for fighting, according to a report in Bethesda Magazine citing the most recent MCPS data available. Three fights were reported as “serious incidents,” and police were called in twice that school year to address fights.

Cohen stressed that “the vast majority of our over 2100 students are not participating in these dangerous behaviors,” but “the small number of students who are choosing fighting as their best option for addressing conflict are compromising the safety and security of us all, and that cannot continue.”