CORONADO, Calif. (KGTV) -- The California Interscholastic Federation has concluded its investigation into an incident in which supporters of the Coronado High School boys basketball team threw tortillas at the visiting team from Orange Glen High School.
In a news release sent to ABC 10News, the CIF said it issued sanctions against the school. "In this instance, there is no doubt the act of throwing tortillas at a predominately Latino team is unacceptable and warrants sanctions,” the federation concluded.
Several of the actions include placing the Coronado High School boys basketball team on probation through the 2023-2024 school year.
The 2021 Southern California Boys Basketball Division 4-A Regional Championship is also vacated as a result of the incident. The decision is subject to appeal, according to the CIF.
The incident occurred shortly after Coronado High beat Orange Glen in the regional championship. Video from the game showed spectators throwing tortillas at Orange Glen’s side.
See the full list of sanctions below:
- The 2021 Southern California Boys Basketball Division 4-A Regional Championship is vacated.
- Coronado High School is on probation for the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 school years.
- The Coronado High School boys basketball team will not host postseason contests at the Section, Regional, or State levels for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years.
- All other teams in the Coronado High School athletic program will not host postseason contests at the Section, Regional, or State levels until numbers 5 and 6 below have been completed.
- Completion of a sportsmanship workshop (to include a component of racial/cultural sensitivity training such as the NFHS Implicit Bias Course) for all Coronado High School administrators, athletic director(s), coaches, and student-athletes.
- Completion of game management training for all Coronado High School administrators and athletic director(s).
- The administration at Coronado High School is strongly encouraged to engage with the administration at Orange Glen High School to begin the process of developing a positive relationship between the two school communities. Examples may include the following:
- The administrators at the two schools work cooperatively to provide the studentathletes at both schools with a restorative justice opportunity.
- The administrators at the two schools work with a community-based non-profit organization to conduct community service projects with their student-athletes and coaches.
Following the announcement, the Coronado Unified School District issued the following statement:
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) issued its decision today regarding the recent Division Championship game, where a post-game incident involved tossing tortillas into the crowd and at players. The CIF decided to levy various sanctions against Coronado High School, including vacating the 2021 Southern California Boys Basketball Division 4-A Regional Championship. We are currently reviewing the decision and will evaluate a possible appeal. We have also retained an outside investigator to thoroughly review the incident, which will guide any additional corrective actions. Whatever actions we take to address this matter, this incident and the CIF decision have served as clear reminders of the importance of sportsmanship and respectful conduct toward one another.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- Coronado Unified School District votes to oust head basketball coach following tortilla-throwing incident
- Tortillas hurled at Orange Glen basketball team after game against Coronado High
- San Diego NAACP calls on CIF to ban two Coronado High players, parents involved in tortilla-throwing incident
- Coronado Unified School District holding emergency meeting over tortilla incident
