A pre-game incident at a Portland high school football rivalry game drew a response from Oregon’s state athletic association, while Jefferson High School officials did not answer a news outlet’s requests for comment, according to the supplied report.
The incident took place Friday night before Jefferson played Grant High School. The report describes video of a Jefferson player striking an opposing player who was carrying an American flag onto the field. It does not establish why the player acted or whether the flag was the reason for the contact.
The Oregon School Activities Association (OSAA), which governs school athletics in the state, said it knew about the pre-game incident. It also said the Jefferson player was ejected and did not participate in the game. The association condemned the conduct, saying such behavior has no place in an interscholastic contest, whether it occurs before, during or after a game.
Attempts to obtain comment from Jefferson went unanswered on Monday, the report said. Calls to athletic director Donnie Siel and principal Drake Shelton were not returned, and a message for Shelton’s office received no response. The report also said the football team’s Instagram account had been deleted.
Screenshots attributed to that account offered Jefferson’s explanation. In the statement, the account said the video was not meant as a slight against the American flag. It alleged that Grant players and members of the coaching staff had shown disrespect toward Jefferson before the game, and said the circumstances would be clearer to people who witnessed the events. The report provides no independent account of those alleged earlier confrontations.
The statement also said there had been an option to go around the field, but that the Grant group did not take it. It described the occasion as Jefferson’s final game on its field, along with Senior Night and Homecoming, and said the events before kickoff were inappropriate given the importance of the night to the school and community.
The account’s statement said its poster was prepared to take responsibility for personal actions and for publishing the content. It also warned against using the incident to direct racist abuse at Jefferson students, players, staff or others associated with the school. The statement described Jefferson as a community that includes Black, Hispanic, white and other backgrounds, and called that diversity a source of pride.
The available information leaves unresolved whether the Grant player was targeted because he carried the flag. The OSAA confirmed awareness of the incident and the ejection but did not, in the quoted statement, address motive. Jefferson’s account offered its own context, but school administrators did not provide an on-the-record response in the report.
Grant won the game, 35-14. The result left Jefferson with a 1-6 record and Grant at 6-1, according to the report.
