Gregory-Portland cancels football game with Mexican team over safety concerns

G-P superintendent cites safety concerns for cancellation
By George Vondracek
Corpus Christi Caller Times

Posted September 20, 2011 at 12:06 p.m., updated September 20, 2011 at 9:50 p.m
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PORTLAND,TX — Citing a need to play it safe, the Gregory-Portland Independent School District on Tuesday canceled its scheduled football game Friday night against Monterrey Tech. Superintendent Paul Clore announced the decision in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

Tech backed out of a scheduled game with Round Rock Stony Point last week, claiming that an anonymous caller, possibly a member of a Mexican cartel, demanded $30,000 for the team to cross the American border.

The G-P district, however, chose a proactive approach, not waiting for Tech to possibly cancel. Clore, assistant superintendent Darla Czerwinski, G-P principal Barbara Cade and first-year athletics director and football coach Matt Anastasio met and made the call. Recurring media reports about Tech’s situation and the violence in Monterrey fueled by rival drug-trafficking gangs weighed heavily in the decision.

“When we saw the story again last night on TV we sat down again as a team and talked through the issue and came to the conclusion from a safety perspective, canceling the game was the safest thing that we could do, because we could never pin down issues,â€