High Schools Agree to Trade Apologies

Officials from Moorpark High and San Bernardino High will exchange apologies as a way of resolving allegations of poor sportsmanship and racial slurs arising from a girls’ basketball playoff game March 1, the Southern Section announced Tuesday.

San Bernardino will apologize for wrongly accusing Moorpark players of making racial insults. Moorpark will apologize for any misconduct by spectators that may have occurred at the game.

The Southern Section said investigations by officials from both schools “did not substantiate that any player from the Moorpark girls’ basketball team used any racial epithets at any time during the game.”

More than 20 players, coaches and cheerleaders from San Bernardino filed written charges that racial epithets were directed at them during and after Moorpark’s 79-61 victory in a Division II-A quarterfinal game at Moorpark.

The week after the game, Moorpark Principal John McIntosh said he found no evidence of such behavior after taking written statements from 35 Moorpark players, coaches, parents and faculty members.