This morning — 11 hours before tonight’s homecoming football game against Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School — P.E. teacher Joe Cassidy arrived on the football field to find “BCC” in three-foot letters and a cigarette in the mouth of the Viking mascot spray-painted onto the grass.  

When students arrived at school, Cassidy and  colleague Neal Poll had already painted over the area with dark green spray paint. Several football parents also repainted the blue  “W” in the center of the field. 

“BCC took the rivalry way too far,” SGA vice president Hannah Sherman said. “We’re going to be the better school, rise above it and win a fair game tonight.” 

Last week, BCC’s Facebook event for the football game had already prompted taunting messages between the schools. 

Goodwin made an announcement earlier in the week telling students to stop posting messages and explaining  the importance of maintaining a friendly relationship between the two schools. He also privately spoke to students who had written some of the nasty messages. 

“There definitely won’t be any trouble from our end, tonight,” Goodwin said. 

 BCC principal Karen  Lockard also emphasized the seriousness of the situation to her students, after the verbal fights on Facebook, Goodwin said.