With coverage from Sports Illustrated, NBC, Fox, CBS, TMZ and USA Today, two communities in Pennsylvania are famous.

Oh, wait. Wrong word.

They’re infamous.

With minutes to go in a PIAA boys basketball playoff game and Uniontown battling to mount a comeback against Meadville Area High School, a fight broke out in the stands. Then it spilled onto the court, where more fans and some players joined in.

Now seven people are facing either charges or citations, among them a member of Uniontown’s team who was cited for disorderly conduct and an adult fan from Uniontown who was charged with simple assault. The remainder are from Meadville and include three 16-year-old boys who were cited with disorderly conduct. One of the teens was also charged with simple assault.

What happened on March 7 was a disgrace, and players, students, coaches and school district administrators should be mortified.

It doesn’t matter who started it or why; the fact that it did is a sad commentary on sportsmanship all around.

The players who were involved should be ashamed; however, it was the adults in their lives who failed them.

Whomever is responsible for raising these children, be it parents, grandparents or guardians, had the responsibility to teach them sportsmanship.

This applies to members of both teams, fans, and even the coaches, who we would argue are responsible for setting the tone for the team.

Now, the PIAA is forcing school districts to do that.

In a swift ruling, the organization required players to take part in the National Federation of State High School Associations’ sportsmanship training. (The NFHS is the governing body of all high school sports in the U.S.) Additionally, the coaches must take part in the NFHS sportsmanship, and teaching and behavior modeling trainings. Districts must also submit a plan of action detailing how these types of situations won’t happen in the future.

The consequence of not adhering to those conditions is removal from the 2025-26 PIAA inter-district tournament.

Surely the teams and coaches in both high schools will not only meet those conditions, but district administrators will actively reinforce the importance of good sportsmanship.

One sad part of this is that all the great things both teams did to get to the playoffs have been overshadowed by one night.

We hope that other teams and other athletes, both in our region and across the state, can learn from this sad event and commit themselves to good sportsmanship.