Officials Confirm PHS Games Against Tate, Pine Forest Moved Due To Shooting Threat, Fights

September 2, 2022

Officials have confirmed the decision to move Pensacola High School’s upcoming football games against  Tate and Pine Forest to Saturdays was based upon fights last week and the threat of a possible shooting at an upcoming PHS game.

A game previously scheduled for tonight between PHS and Tate will now be played at 9 a.m. Saturday with a venue change to Tate High School, and the PHS at Pine Forest game next week will now be played at 9 a.m. on Saturday, September 10.

An initial investigation has identified about 18 individuals involved in several altercations and fights that occurred at the PHS at  Washington High School game last week, according to joint news release from the school district and Pensacola Police. More details have not been released because it is an ongoing investigation and due to the juveniles involved.

“During the investigation, law enforcement learned of a possible threat of a shooting at an upcoming PHS football game,” Escambia County Public Schools spokesperson Cody Strother said Thursday. He did not specify if the “possible threat of a shooting” involved the PHS game with Tate, Pine Forest or some other upcoming game.

“We can assure you that the decision to move these games was made solely with the safety of our students in mind, and it is in no way a disciplinary action against students,” he said.

When NorthEscambia.com first broke the story on Tuesday, Strother said there were some “neighborhood issues” that spilled over into the stands at last week’s PHS at Washington game.

He offered some clarification in his statement Thursday.

“To clarify, previous uses of the word ‘neighborhood’ when discussing these incidents were not referring to or a reflection of any particular neighborhood or school, but were simply indicating that these issues are coming from outside of the school and are not school-related,” Strother said.

Now that this week’s Tate vs. PHS game has been moved to Tate, security will now be provided by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

The ECSO has said they will have a presence to ensure the safety of players and fans.

“We want there to be high school football games. We want people to be able to go to these games and to know that it’s a safe environment,” Sheriff Chip Simmons said. “We are going to be there, and we are going to make sure it is a safe environment.”

Pictured: Game action at last Friday night’s Tate at Pine Forest game. NorthEscambia.com photo by Jennifer Repine, click to enlarge.

Comments

8 Responses to “Officials Confirm PHS Games Against Tate, Pine Forest Moved Due To Shooting Threat, Fights”

  1. David Greene on September 3rd, 2022 11:25 am

    Just an observation, but you never see the new PPD Chief out in front of the cameras or even being interviewed by local news outlets.

    Is he afraid of cameras, or not a good public speaker like out Quint Studer appointed School Superintendent.

  2. James on September 2nd, 2022 10:44 pm

    Charge the juveniles as adults because they likely will end up spending much of their adult time in prison anyways, limit bag sizes and perform bag searches, use metal detectors, and allow the student-athletes to perform without distraction. If these measures work for college and professional sporting events, surely a local high school can arrange similar security. The demonstration of security is the majority of deterrence.

  3. Willis on September 2nd, 2022 1:49 pm

    Fights at football games have been fairly common since the seventies I can remember.
    But the level to which things escalate anymore has changed greatly.

  4. SueB on September 2nd, 2022 1:23 pm

    Cameras, video recording, is needed to capture the thugs. Laws need to be changed to help the innocent and law enforcement, and not the criminals.

  5. Grub Worm on September 2nd, 2022 12:21 pm

    8/2/22 @ 11:18 am 88 degrees with heat index of 96. Hope no-one suffers any heat related injury’s for this day game.

  6. Bill on September 2nd, 2022 9:29 am

    We can’t allow thugs to rule our everyday lives, our court system has to support LE and start putting these folks in jail

  7. Saddened on September 2nd, 2022 9:27 am

    This is just terrible! You hear of these things in big cities but seems Pensacola now has their fair share of this nonsense! The people, elected officials, Judges & Sheriffs office/PPD must meet ASAP to figure out how to tackle these issues! Put a stop on ALL projects City & County, use these funds to immediately hire more officers & flood the streets with them! Crime is out of control for such a small town. Contact other departments in other states that deal with much worse to get ideas from them? I’m just “trying” to think of all avenues to limit this horrific environment. A meeting would be great to hear everyone’s ideas…UNITE for the safety of everyone, especially our children!

  8. JP on September 2nd, 2022 6:21 am

    Sounds about right! Can’t even let our kids live their best lives and participate in high school sports without worrying about some idiot thugs trying to shoot each other up at a high school football game.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under Archive