CARY, Ill. — A suburban high school apologized Tuesday after reports of a “Fire Nagy” chant breaking out Saturday while the Bears’ head coach watched his son play in a playoff game.
During the Lake Forest’s 40-7 loss against Cary-Grove Saturday, chants of “Fire Nagy” were clear.
Matt Nagy’s sons, Brayden and Tate, both play for Lake Forest. Brayden, a junior, was dressed at the time of the incident.
In a statement, Cary-Grove High School said the chant was “not acceptable nor appropriate and was immediately addressed by administration at the game.”
On Sunday, the Bears fell to 3-7 after losing to Baltimore Ravens, who were without starting quarterback Lamar Jackson, 16 to 13.
Read the school’s full statement below.
“At the recent Cary-Grove vs. Lake Forest 6A high school football game played on Saturday, November 20, members of the Cary-Grove student body began a chant targeting the parent of one of the Lake Forest team members and his family.
On behalf of Cary-Grove High School, I want to assure our community that the chant was not acceptable nor appropriate and was immediately addressed by administration at the game. We also felt it was important to meet with our student superfans that lead our chants and cheers to talk about what happened and give them an opportunity to reflect and correct their actions.
As the school principal, I want to apologize to the Lake Forest student-athlete and his family for the disrespectful chant. I also want to congratulate the Lake Forest Scouts on a great season, and we hope to have the opportunity to compete with them again.
It is our number one goal to instill in our students a sense of pride in their school and sports teams, and we work hard to teach them to demonstrate that pride in a positive, encouraging, and supportive way. We hope to learn from this situation, and we have taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”