Threats of violence postpone Cape Coral, Port Charlotte football game

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Threats of violence postponed Friday night’s football game between Cape Coral and Port Charlotte high schools, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said.

Charlotte County school district officials received phone calls from the Fort Myers and Cape Coral police departments Friday afternoon regarding a potential fight between patrons and Cape Coral football players, the district said.

“There are a lot of football games to be played and anything could happen, and the fact that it came from the police department and it wasn’t like a parent calling us saying that so we took it serious,” said Mike Riley with Charlotte County schools.

The potential fight stemmed from a confrontation between Cape Coral football players and other students earlier in the day, Cape Coral police said.

Additional deputies were called in to help with the game, but the district decided to push the game to Monday in hopes that tensions will die down and authorities will have time to investigate, Riley said.

“If it was a tension thing it could deescalate by then, and if we get a call that there’s a problem again then we will deal with that when that time comes,” he said.

The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. at Port Charlotte High School.