Despite the 10-28 loss, DGN students rushed to Los Burritos Tapatios concluding the York vs. DGN football game Sept. 17. It has been a tradition for the DGN student section to celebrate a win at “Los” for years, but this time students were not heading there victoriously.

The DGN football fans felt the need to defend their cherished taco place after they overheard the York’s student section chanting “We want tacos!” from the opposite end of Carsten’s Field. 

The Dukes fulfilled their promise of heading over to the restaurant and pushed their way into Los, identifiable by their white clothing against DGN’s neon outfits.  

“Defend Los”

While the fourth quarter unfolded, senior Nick Wander hoisted up a whiteboard reading “Defend Los” in hopes of sending a message to fans in the N-Zone. 

“It is a tradition to go there and it felt wrong for York to go there and trash it. If they were going to do anything, we should be there,” Wander said. 

On his way to Los, senior Frank Miceli was in the DGN parking lot when he spotted a high school-aged student dressed in white sprinting away from his truck. As he went to examine his 2003 Ford Ranger Extend Cab, he noticed there were eight key marks carved into the clear coat. 

Miceli has been revamping the Ranger since his freshman year- a project he has taken on with his grandfather. This vehicle is his means of transportation every other weekend to his father’s house in Indiana. 

“This truck is the physical embodiment of the relationship I have with my grandpa,” Miceli said. “I was livid. It was like they insulted my family, defaced my home, and took chunks out of something I valued.” 

Numerous Downers Grove residents reported their cars were keyed, both in the DGN and Los parking lot. 

Inside Los

Initially, as the Dukes started filtering in, the conversation was competitive banter. 

“We knew that there was going to be some bickering, but we didn’t think it was going to get out of hand,” senior Bridget Callaghan said. 

When larger groups of York students entered the restaurant and stood next to their fellow classmates, the banter turned into action. 

Students shoved, flung food into the air, and even hurled knives across the restaurant. 

Senior and editor-in-chief of the Omega Gretchen Lucina reported getting hit with the blunt side of a steak knife. 

“I am thankful it didn’t cause more injury to me or others. It definitely could have ended a lot worse than it did,” Lucina said.

Interactions were broken up by the Trojans pushing and persuading the Dukes out of the door. Senior Megan Heinz saw this happen firsthand. 

“After we pushed them outside, they were banging on the windows and continued to taunt us,” Heinz said. 

As multiple Downers Grove police officers arrived, York students headed back to Elmhurst. 

Cleaning Up

N-Zone leader Sam Bowerman was walking into Los after cleaning up the student section at Carsten’s Field when he saw the aftermath.

“Some North kids stayed back to help mop,” Bowerman said. 

Senior Maeve Miller was among those who stayed behind to help straighten up the establishment. 

“It was just chaos,” Miller said. “It was all North students cleaning up so that they didn’t have to. I think it showed our character as opposed to the York character, that we stayed and cleaned everything up.” 

The groups of DGN students were appreciated by the various Los workers on staff that night.

“A lot of people stayed to help clean the area and lobby and return the chairs from outside. It was very nice,” Alfredo Ramirez, a Los employee of 20 years, said. 

When compared to the traditional Friday night Los experience Ramirez knew this got out of hand with the schools.

“This was not good, I love to share the time with new people,” Ramirez said. “But when the students try to push each other, this starts fighting.”

Aftermath on Sloche/ Social Media

@sloche, an Instagram account that posts all things Illinois high school sports and has been recapping Friday night lights, posted a video of the events with the caption “York fans crash DGN’s post-game taco spot”. 

@dukesstool, an unaffiliated with York, student-run account, commented on this post, “You mean our taco shop?”

One of the 64 replies to the comment was Miller’s. She wrote, “The York fans are literally one of the most disrespectful groups of people I’ve ever seen.”

“I feel like the York barstool account was making it seem like not a big deal and that the students did nothing wrong. That was not the case,” Miller said. “I saw my friend’s car get keyed.”

@totalduke_move, another student-run account, edited a compilation of replies from DGN students with a voice over that says “We do not care.”

Both the York principal and dean declined to be interviewed.