Senior Mia Marconi walked onto the Concord Park basketball court at roughly 10:40 p.m the night of Oct. 12. She looked down and saw the remnants of a bedsheet that once wore the slogan “Actually, this is our town”. What started as a football rivalry a few short hours before, ended with the DGN fan section flag up in flames.

The DGN and DGS football teams were in a similar spot going into the annual crosstown game. DGN had a record of 3-4, and DGS had a record of 4-3. Although both teams were hovering around .500 on the season, either team had a shot at the State Playoffs pending the outcome of the final two games of the season.

The on-field battle was no match for the verbal warfare between fan sections. Rather than the plays of the field capturing their attention, DGN students were enthralled by a black bedsheet spray-painted white with the words “This is our town”.

After hearing about this from another N-Zone leader, Marconi brought a white bedsheet spray-painted black with the words “Actually, this is our town” later to the game.

DGN won the game, shutting out DGS 10-0. To celebrate the win, DGN students ran onto the field.

“We all sprinted on the field and swarmed the football team. It was kinda crazy in there. And then there was a split second where I thought ‘Wait, where’s our flag?’, and I saw our student section and it was completely empty. Even the flag,” Marconi said.

Marconi asked the deans if they knew who took it, and was told that it looked like another student from DGN took it. After asking around, Marconi still could locate the flag.

Later that night, the same sheet was burned at Concord Park, located one mile away from DGS.

Marconi found out DGS senior James Todd* had the flag when he sent her a snapchat holding it with the caption “In case you guys didn’t know where it went” after the game. Next he sent her a video of DGS senior Charles Madden* spraying lighter fluid on the flag.

“Someone from south ran over and took [the flag] while [DGN fans] rushed the field. We got handed [the flag] by the exit so we went to our car with it,” Madden said later in an Omega interview.

After looking on the Snapchat friend locator, Marconi identified where the boys were. By time she reached the park, all that was left were a few burnt pieces of fabric.

“If someone is pissed that we stole their banner, one of your students came and stole ours and we got it back. If [the DGN student] had gotten away we probably wouldn’t have gotten [the south banner] back,” Madden said. “If your classmate hadn’t taken our banner you guys would still have yours.”

Marconi hoped that the flag could have been traded off to the winner of the crosstown game each year for basketball and football.

“It would have been a cool tradition. Like if we won the football game we got to keep the sheet, but if they won a basketball game they could have kept the sheet. It could’ve been ongoing for many years,” said Marconi.

Both DGS students who participated in the burning apologized to Marconi for what had happened.

“I’d be mad too, but that’s part of the rivalry,” Madden said.

Marconi was upset that they burned the banner, rather than them stealing it.

“Stealing [the flag] is one thing,” Marconi said. “But burning it just takes it to a whole other level. I’m pretty sure that [that’s] illegal.”

The flag burning incident wouldn’t be filed as arson according to DGN police counselor John Lyerly.

“If they are adults they can be charged with a misdemeanor. In the case, typically I’ve seen officers submit a village ordinance ticket,” Lyerly said.

*The names of these students have been changed to protect their identities.