Shooting Delays Upstate New York High School Football Game

Last week, three people were injured in a shooting after a high school football game in Newburgh, New York. The violence occurred in the parking lot after the September 30th game between Newburgh Free Academy and Warwick High School. According to Newburgh police reports at least five shots were fired. Now that shooting is impacting future sporting events.

According to William J. Kemble of dailyfreeman.com, Kingston school district Superintendent Paul Padalino said on Friday that Newburgh Free Academy has to have a mutually approved safety plan before the football game, originally scheduled for October 14th, can be put back on schedule.

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On Friday, Newburgh Free Academy announced a “pause” on all home athletic competitions. “We recognize that this decision may be comforting for some and frustrating for others in light of the incident that took place last week. Our focus is to ensure that our athletes and their families have every opportunity to participate in all regular season competitions to avoid disruption to their season.”

The game between Kingston and Newburgh had been scheduled for Friday night, October 14th. Officials are trying to mover the game to an afternoon game the next day. “There’s a very different feeling around a Saturday afternoon game than a Friday night game,” Padalino told dailyfreeman.com. “In my 11 years of experience of the rivalry between Kingston and Newburgh never once was it a kid that was the problem.” Hopefully, the student-athletes that practice and prepare for these events are rewarded by the administrators by making these situations work-out. Good luck to the athletes at Newburgh Free Academy.