Bad blood between Fremd, Glenbard N. brewing well before incident
"They started it."
If the pregame, cyberspace trash-talking is any indicator, the bad blood between Glenbard North and Fremd high schools was brewing well before an ugly incident spilled onto the football field this weekend.
According to a flurry of e-mails to the Daily Herald -- most of it from Glenbard North students -- Fremd students threw down the gauntlet with rabble-rousing videos posted on the popular YouTube Web site.
That prompted online comments from both sides, but several students were upset that the death of a popular Glenbard North band director two weeks ago was mocked by a few Fremd supporters.
Earlier Coverage Stories Reader response [11/14/07]Glenbard N. won't forfeit playoff victory [11/14/07]Glenbard N. tops Fremd [11/11/07]Maciaszek: Drama, thrills and heartbreak as Fremd's magical run ends [11/11/07]" class="mediaItem" target="_blank">Fremd YouTube video (Warning: contains some strong language)
Further, several said what was portrayed as post-game "taunting" of the Fremd rooting section was actually the Glenbard kids' attempt to do a "victory lap" around the football field. That was impeded by hostile Fremd supporters who wouldn't let them pass, several said.
Regardless of who provoked whom, preliminary indications from the Illinois High School Association on Tuesday were Glenbard North would not have to forfeit its Saturday night victory over Fremd.
While bragging about your team before a big game is standard, Glenbard North Principal John Mensik said last week was "a little different in this case" from online comments he's seen in the past.
"By no means does that condone students going across the field and to stand in front of the Fremd stands (after Glenbard won the game). But that fed into their emotional state," he said.
The IHSA continued its investigation Tuesday into events after Saturday's game when fans from Glenbard North left the stands, ran around the track, taunted Fremd fans and reportedly stole Fremd football helmets and a camera.
But Glenbard fans argued Tuesday their opponents' supporters were hardly innocent bystanders, both before and after the game.
"My own daughter was hit with a bottle hit in the head," said Terry Houser of Hanover Park.
He said his daughter and other students wanted only to take a victory lap after the game, but "as they approached the Fremd side, they began to throw things," said Houser, pastor at Deliverance Outreach Center Church said.
Just who did what, and when, remains a large part of the problem, he said.
Carol Stream police reported no arrests and charges filed, though Fremd cheerleading coach Suzanne Adamski filed an accident report at her school on Monday.
She said that after students from the Glenbard stands made their way to the Fremd side of the field, one of them elbowed her near her right shoulder.
Adamski said she would have pressed criminal charges, even though her injury was minor, if she could have identified the student who hit her.
Still, many students said their innocent intent at celebration turned afoul only when they were stopped in front of the Fremd stands.
Mensik said they should never have been on the track and he warned students to stay behind the fence.
One Fremd fan site, referring to its Army of Darkness, pulled its blog in the days before the game because the comments got so heated and included "language that's not appropriate," Fremd High School senior Nick Addison said.
And he means from students at both schools.
"There was a little on both sides. We still had our share," said Addison, who helped create the fan page.
Still, it was comments about the school's band director that really upset students the most.
"Some of the Fremd fans even said that was a low blow," Carol Stream junior Jacqui Kukuski said.