The state semifinal playoff game between the Hawthorne Hornets and Blountstown Tigers will remain in Hawthorne on Friday, Dec. 2, despite complaints from the Pahokee Blue Devils about crowd control and inadequate security.

In a message sent out to Hawthorne High School students, families and staff, Principal Ginger Stanford said she hoped that the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) would see the complaints “as being from a disgruntled team that isn’t playing this week” and decide against moving the game from Hawthorne to Citizens Field in Gainesville.

However, Pahokee High School Athletic Director Lashonda Kelly said that losing the game had nothing to do with the complaints filed by the school to the FHSAA.

“It is what it is with the game,” Kelly said. “It happens. Somebody gotta win, and somebody gotta lose.”

One of the main concerns voiced by Kelly and head coach Emmanuel Hendrix was how close fans were able to get to the players in the end zone.

“Fans are close enough to punch a kid if they want to,” Hendrix said.

The close proximity of fans to the players along with a small security presence led to spectators getting involved in a postgame fight between the two teams.

Both schools had their own opinion on how and why the fight started, but Kelly said that spectator involvement made the situation all the more hostile.

“Because their fans had access to the field so easily, they came onto the field even after the players and coaches were on the field,”...

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