A high school basketball game between two Central Section rivals took an ugly turn Tuesday night, as a chant from one of the student sections led to a confrontation between administrators from the schools.
Just before the final buzzer of St. Joseph’s 74-57 victory over visiting Righetti in the regular season finale for the two Santa Maria teams, some fans started chanting, “Where’s your passport?” According to the Santa Maria Times, the chant came from the Righetti student section and was apparently directed toward St. Joseph players.
The newspaper reports that the St. Joseph roster includes one player from France and three from Puerto Rico.
Kind of a disappointing ending to a good game as the visiting student section chanted “where’s your passport?”, apparently at SJHS players. Administrators from both schools exchanged words. There was a charged atmosphere throughout the contest. #santamariatimes pic.twitter.com/xCQU7J5INA
— Joe Bailey (@JBaileySMSports) February 12, 2020
A Santa Maria Times video of the incident shows a woman identified as St. Joseph principal Erinn Dougherty apparently confronting the fans over the chant and engaging in a heated exchange with a man identified as Righetti assistant principal Ted Lyon.
Read the full story on LATimes.com.
