Modesto-Sierra football game ends before halftime after report of firearm seen in fight
Friday night’s homecoming football game between Sierra High and visiting Modesto was cut short after an alleged warning of a firearm caused Daniel Teicheira Memorial Stadium to be cleared out late in the second quarter.
The Manteca Bulletin was the first to report the story.
According to the Bulletin’s report, school administrators instructed game officials to lead players off the field after students appeared to be running from the practice field behind Sierra’s home bleachers where an incident took place.
Sierra Principal Steve Clark ultimately called off the game.
“We noticed a commotion over on the opposite side of the bleachers, but we were snapping our focus back into the game pretty quickly,” Modesto coach Dylan Miller said. “It was their homecoming, so we’re thinking everybody’s rushing to their float for halftime.”
Miller said he realized things were escalating when he got word something more was going on from his assistant coach on his headset. “At that time, it became clear that something was pretty wrong.” he said.
Manteca police officers who were on campus were called. The Bulletin reports that officers at the scene said they could not share any details of the investigation. No shots were fired and no one was harmed.
The Manteca Police Department said on its Facebook page that officers responded to a report of a fight involving students from various local high schools. Officers spoke with witnesses to the fight, some who thought they saw a portion of a firearm in one person’s waistband. The firearm was not drawn, however, and the subject reported to have the firearm was not found.
The game was halted with Sierra leading 23-21, shortly after Modesto scored a touchdown with 5 minutes, 11 seconds left in the half. Word spread and administration felt it was best to stop the contest.
There is no guarantee the teams will be able to finish the game. Modesto has a bye next week but Sierra travels to Golden Valley for its final nonleague game before starting Valley Oak League play.
The game “was just getting good, as they say,” Miller said. “We felt like it was going to be a heck of a finish.”
On Thursdays when Miller and his team have their mock game practices, they go through how they would handle strange situations that could come up during a game. It is referred to as “squad up.”
“We practice for some sort of situation that calls for us to be together,” Miller said. “It’s something I took from my time coaching at MJC. We get together in lines of five, everybody shoulder to shoulder, everybody quiets down, coaches give their speech and then we go from there, and that’s what we did on the sidelines.”
Miller said everyone got off the field in a safe and timely manner. “Salute to all sides. The referees did a good job, Sierra did a good job, their admin and their staff did a good job and our campus security that were there did a good job as well,” he said. “Big picture, we’re just glad everybody’s OK.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 1:57 PM.
