Vandals Spray Paint Azle Football Field Ahead of Rivalry Game
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AZLE (CBS11) - A heated high school football rivalry was taken up a notch when someone vandalized the home team's field.
The Battle for Eagle Mountain Lake is a longstanding tradition between the Hornets of Azle High School and the Pioneers of Boswell High School.
When students arrived early to campus Friday morning to prep for the game, they noticed something 'off color' on the football field.
Someone spray painted the Hornet mascot blue. Vulgar language was also scrawled in spray paint on the sidelines.
"I came out here and as I looked, I saw the entire Buzzy was blue," said Zach Boemer, an AHS senior student who came to set up flags on the bleachers.
School officials say the rivalry has always been friendly, and that the graffiti is a first.
"A lot of power washing, scrubbing and soap and we got it cleaned up," said Todd Smith, Operations Director for Azle.
By mid-morning, the grounds crews had erased the damage.
Azle ISD said administrators from Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD called them to condemn the graffiti, and even offered to send a crew to help with cleanup.
For now, the culprits remain at large -- no one can confirm that it was someone associated with Boswell High School, but both school districts and police are looking into it.
"We aren't pointing any fingers at this time," said Smith.
Neither are students.
"But it hurt our feelings a little bit," said Azle senior Kailey Read, with a smile.
Instead of pay back, the Azle student council has a play to pay it forward.
"We came up with an idea to collect money at the front gates of the game. We're going to donate it to a charity of Boswell's choice, in their name," said Jordan Redmon, another senior at Azle.
As for the 2015 edition of Take the Lake, Smith says expect a good game, and good sportsmanship.
"A big crowd, a big atmosphere. We hope for a win," said Smith.
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD sent out this statement:
We at Boswell High School and Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD are disheartened by the defacing of the Azle field. We have a great respect for the Azle community, we have positive working relationships with their school and district leaders, and we have been in communication with their administrators since we became aware of the situation.
The Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD community has enjoyed healthy competition with Azle for many years and, while we may compete on the field or court, when it comes to education we are all in it together. Both districts have high expectations for students and expect good sportsmanship at all our events.
We continue to communicate with Azle administration in preparation for tonight's games and we are looking forward to a fun night of friendly competition. Currently, an investigation to determine any involvement of our students is taking place and the district will take appropriate action as needed.
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