UPDATED July 1, 1:37 p.m. ET:According to a news release, the CIF state executive director concluded that the Coronado basketball team will be stripped of their title.
“After a thorough review and analysis of the incident following the conclusion of the Division 4-A regional basketball championship game between Coronado High School and Orange Glen High School, the (California Interscholastic Federation) state executive director reiterates that discriminatory and racially insensitive behaviors toward an opponent contravene the principles of education-based athletics,” the federation said.
Based on the investigations conducted by the local schools and school districts, the events depicted in the video evidence, and this office’s review, the sanctions below are levied against Coronado High School:
- The 2021 Southern California Boys Basketball Division 4-A Regional Championship is vacated.
- Coronado High School is on probation for the 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024 school years.
You can read more of their sanctions here.
UPDATED June 23, 7:25 p.m. ET: JD Laaperi, the head coach of Coronado’s basketball team, was fired following the tortilla-throwing incident, ABC News reports. Laaperi was fired after the Coronado Unified School Board voted 5-0 in favor of his termination.
Laaperi previously addressed the incident on social media, writing, “Unfortunately a community member brought tortillas and distributed them which was unacceptable and racist in nature.”
See original story below.
Coronado High School’s basketball team is facing accusations of racism after its players tossed tortillas at the losing team, Orange Glen High School.
As NBC San Diego reports, the game took place on Saturday with Coronado taking the win 60 to 57. When the game ended, the Orange Glen team reportedly walked over to the other team for the usual post-game handshake only to get tortillas thrown at them. “The head coach and the assistant coach came over to our bench and kind of said some words that were inappropriate and told us that we should take our kids and ‘get the F out’ because we were a bunch of losers,” said Orange Glen assistant coach Lizardo Reynoso. In comments shared with CBS affiliate KFMB, Reynoso added that the “disturbing” incident “bothered” the team, “especially a lot of our Hispanic guys.”
Andres Rivera, a father of a player for Orange Glen’s basketball team called the moment “racist” and suggested it was planned. Coronado Police have already said that the adult who brought the tortillas to the game has since been identified, but an investigation is still ongoing. “The players on the other team and some fans started throwing tortillas on our whole team, which, as you can see, we’re predominately Hispanic and Latino, so it like, took us pretty hard,” Lizardo told ABC’s 10 News.
In a statement shared by Coronado Unified High School’s superintendent Karl Mueller, the school stressed that “swift action will be taken to address all those involved, and they will be held accountable.”
San Diego mayor Todd Gloria has since released a statement on the matter, too. “We have a lot of work to do as a community and I just hope the folks there at the school district take this as a teachable moment and work with these young people,” Gloria told San Diego’s Fox 5. “Help them understand this is not acceptable and quite honestly is not going to set them up well for success.”
