A group of WJ students were involved in a physical altercation at the Bethesda Metro station in which a large group of teens, many of whom attend B-CC, attacked and injured multiple WJ students following the football team’s victory over B-CC last Friday. Five B-CC students have been arrested and are facing charges of robbery and assault as of Friday, Sept. 8, per the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD).

In the past, WJ and B-CC have had a decades-long rivalry that has led to fights, vandalism and student arrests. Incidents have occurred more regularly over the past six years. Still, unlike some past occasions, this most recent occurrence was not a fight, as the WJ students involved were attacked unprovoked.

“After the game, we had students that went into the community and some of our students were assaulted. That was horrible … None of you did anything wrong. I just wanted to say that I know that. I’ve seen all the videos, I’ve seen everything and it was not okay. Nothing like that should ever happen to anyone,” Principal Jennifer Baker said in an announcement on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Sept. 6, MCPS implemented some of the actions in the Tier 2 Safety Plan, most notably limiting the number of tickets sold for varsity football games to 75% of the stadium’s capacity (2,250 fans at WJ).

At the game itself, no fights broke out, and students generally remained safe, but this was not the case after the game.

“I was just with a group of friends and we just walked to the Metro station and a bunch of B-CC people just came at us,” junior Sydney Robinson said. “They pushed one of my friends down the stairs and then they started running at us and my friend and I ran away.”

Fourteen police officers were deployed to Bethesda following the game and WJ’s team bus was escorted out of B-CC by police as well. Even with this police presence, many students and parents wish that there were more precautions taken in the greater Bethesda community.

“I think there should be more security,” Robinson said.

On Tuesday, the school allowed students to see counselors regarding the incident. The entire WJ community was affected by the incident, as many are close to the injured and everyone has had to deal with the fact that this is not the first time this has happened.

“We all kind of expected that something might happen, but when it happens to a close friend, it’s more upsetting. It was unnecessary and senseless,” an anonymous junior said.

Talk of what new measures that will be taken at future WJ/B-CC games has begun and some have proposed ideas of what future games could look like.