San Leandro and McClymonds High Schools work to reschedule football game cancelled by threat

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ByEric Thomas KGO logo
Saturday, September 28, 2019
Unspecified threats of violence cancels East Bay high school football game
The high school football match-up scheduled for Friday night between San Leandro and Oakland's McClymonds will not be played because of unspecified threats of violence at the game.

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. (KGO) -- The high school football match-up scheduled for Friday night between San Leandro and Oakland's McClymonds will not be played because of unspecified threats of violence at the game.

While the varsity sits out their game, McClymonds' Junior Varsity team has walk-throughs prior their contest Friday evening at Clayton Valley. Even the Junior varsity is disappointed.

"Yeah, cause I want to see them play. Their game is mostly fun, to us" said McClymonds Junior varsity player, J'miraqi Doleda.

JV head coach Jamal Fletcher added:

"The kids are hurt. You're taking away from the kids, kids who've been working all week to prepare for a game they're looking forward to on Friday night."

RELATED: East Bay school officials trying to reschedule football game after threat

San Leandro administrators say the non-conference game was called off after an unspecified threat surfaced. But reportedly that threat involved the possibility of gang-related violence, possibly shooting, at Burrell Field.

"We were contacted by the Oakland Schools Police Department. Our school resource officers were contacted and said that there was a threat originating outside of both school communities," according to Keziah Moss, spokeswoman for the San Leandro Unified School District.

San Leandro football player Jared Palega says he and his teammates are concerned: "Now that we've heard what's happening, we're concerned, not only for the team's safety, but for the families and the kids," he said.

Oakland Unified released a statement on Friday that reads in part: "After consulting with our police departments, we decided out of an abundance of caution to cancel the game...we are working to find a later date in the season to reschedule the game."

But, so far no date or place has been settled on, and if one is, school officials say they won't announce it. Oakland's JV coach says it could affect their players' future.

"College coaches from everywhere, you know, we get calls from San Diego State, Portland State, say they're coming to see the game to see both parties, you know, San Leandro and McClymonds High School," Fletcher said.