{"id":837049,"date":"2026-09-05T06:28:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/837049\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:28:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:28:18","slug":"penn-hills-gateway-football-game-restricted-because-of-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/837049\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn Hills-Gateway football game restricted because of threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn Hills-Gateway football game restricted to family members only after reported threat<\/p>\n

\"Jordan<\/a>\"ChrisPENN HILLS, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

Attendance at the Gateway-Penn Hills high school football game Friday night was restricted to players’ family members only, the superintendents of both school districts said.<\/p>\n

The decision was made because of “a potential threat” that was reported via the Safe2Say app, Penn Hills Superintendent John Mozzocio and Gateway Superintendent Guy Rossi said in a joint statement. Details regarding the nature of the threat were not released.<\/p>\n

“No other community members, including students, band members, or cheerleaders, will be allowed to attend,” the school administrators said in the statement.<\/p>\n

Operation Football: Scores of Friday night’s high school football games<\/a><\/p>\n

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Penn Hills hosted the matchup. Livestreaming video of the game was made available through a link on the school’s social media channels.<\/p>\n

“We have been working with our law enforcement and school security partners to ensure the safety of everyone who attends this game,” the statement said, in part. “We realize this is an unfortunate turn of events for everyone who enjoys Friday night football, but we believe this is the appropriate approach to take in light of this potential threat.”<\/p>\n

\"Image\"Image<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just sad, it really is. And the cheerleaders can\u2019t be here. It\u2019s just horrible,\u201d said Deanna Mason, the mother of a Penn Hills player.<\/p>\n

Looking for more news in your area | Subscribe to the WTAE YouTube Channel<\/a><\/p>\n

Some fans said school officials and law enforcement made the right move. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t just not do anything. You have to be proactive, and I think that’s what they’re doing. They’re being proactive, they’re out, they’re very visible,\u201d Bernard Mathis said. <\/p>\n

However, others said they thought it was an overreaction.<\/p>\n

“I have a daughter that cheers for Gateway. She was so heartbroken because she prepared all week for this game,\u201d David Dixon Sr. told Pittsburgh\u2019s Action News 4 reporter Jordan Cioppa. <\/p>\n

Dixon\u2019s grandson is the quarterback for Penn Hills. A fun family rivalry game didn\u2019t go as planned. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey punished the kids,\u201d Dixon said. \u201cIt did dampen the attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s Action News 4 reached out to the Monroeville and Penn Hills police chiefs for more information on the threat, but did not immediately hear back. <\/p>\n

Download the WTAE app<\/a> to stay connected with breaking news. Sign up for our email newsletters<\/a> to get breaking news in your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn Hills-Gateway football game restricted to family members only after reported threat PENN HILLS, Pa. \u2014 Attendance at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15684,59850,354423,4,450,88251,83876,354424,451,24234,82843,7221,3,354422,56765,58197,6308,40696,40071,452,453,119028,79961],"class_list":["post-837049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-action-news","tag-attendance","tag-band-member","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-football-game","tag-gateway","tag-gateway-superintendent-guy-rossi","tag-headlines","tag-high-school-football","tag-joint-statement","tag-nature","tag-news","tag-operation-football","tag-penn-hills","tag-school-district","tag-score","tag-threat","tag-tonight","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-wpial","tag-wtae"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}