You may be wondering why I’m posting a game story that is nearly two months old, but I can explain.

I recently attended an Athletic Advisory Committee meeting for school District 91 in Idaho Falls. The district includes Skyline and Idaho Falls High School.

One of the meeting’s topics was sportsmanship. A Committee member, Mike Morrison, opened the sportsmanship discussion by mentioning a gamer he read in the Post Register. The story, which recapped a Skyline-Hillcrest football game, mentioned two Skyline fans yelling at each other in the stands. Morrison said he was appalled when he read about this fan behavior.

As you can infer, the story Morrison mentioned was mine. The game was one of the more intense sporting events I’ve covered in Idaho Falls, as you can see here and below.

It was exciting to hear my story mentioned (even though Morrison didn’t know it was mine until I told him) for several reasons: A) It was a rare instance of reader feedback, B) it was viewed as a fair article and C) it helped spark a larger discussion of sportsmanship among fans at games. My goal for every story is to be fair and provide information to the public that people might not be aware of if not for my story. I’m glad my story had that effect.

Here’s the first section of my gamer:

The hostility was tangible.

The Skyline High School football team was on the wrong end of two pass interference penalties, and the Grizzlies’ heated disagreement resulted in extra flags. At one point, two Skyline fans got into a shouting match. At another point, two Skyline defenders got into a shoving match.

Skyline was tied with Hillcrest 14-14 when the anger boiled over. Four plays after the two Grizzly defenders engaged in a minor civil war, Hillcrest scored the game-winning touchdown. The Knights (5-1, 2-0) were far from their best, but they looked tranquil compared to the Grizzlies (3-3, 1-1) on Friday night at Ravsten Stadium. The intense 21-14 win keeps Hillcrest tied with Highland for the 5A District 5-6 lead.

‘Calls went against us in the first half and they went against (Skyline) in the second half,’ Hillcrest coach Jeff Marshall said. “I think that pretty much balanced out, but I feel fortunate about how things went in the second half.’