By now, news that Frankfort has dropped Fort Hill in all sports has begun to spread.

The school’s administration sent a letter to the neighboring school outlining how it came to that conclusion, which was primarily due to a pattern of alleged poor fan behavior from Fort Hill spectators at Frankfort. It’s effective immediately, and it includes junior varsity contests too.

Twelve games, seven in the spring and five in the fall, that had already been scheduled have been canceled.

That includes a ballgame in April local baseball fans were very much looking forward to. The schools were slated to play for just the second time since 2019.

I have a unique perspective covering our area’s sports, hailing from a more affluent area in central Maryland that scarcely prioritizes sports unless it involves a lacrosse stick (unless you consider SAT prep one).

I also don’t have ingrained biases or affiliations to any particular school or local community, a virtue my counterpart at the paper, Jordan Kendall, likewise shares.

What I see are two siblings, separated by just nine miles, fighting and quibbling and pushing each other’s buttons at every turn.

While football — more specifically the lack of a game between Frankfort and Fort Hill in football — isn’t the direct culprit in many of these incidents, it’s the fuel to the fire in our own little Hatfield-McCoy feud.

Frankfort will never play Fort Hill in football under its current administration and coaching staff, Fort Hill and its supporters won’t let it go, and here we are.

It’s small-time, and it’s embarrassing all around. Sit in a room together, hash out your grievances and find a way to move forward so we don’t punish baseball or girls soccer players, among other athletes — sports that have little overlap to what has caused this rift.

I had the misfortune of witnessing the final straw between the local rivals in person at a boys basketball game on Feb. 12 in Short Gap, West Virginia.

And before we get into the weeds, what I perceived was a situation that escalated senselessly. It was an incident that fails to register in the top 50 of worst things I’ve witnessed at local sporting events.

Just Thursday night, multiple Morgantown fans were ejected at a Southern Garrett girls basketball game, somebody flipped Southern’s students the bird and a lady left the gymnasium in handcuffs.

None of the incidents detailed between Fort Hill and Frankfort, for the record, included a fight or resulted in an arrest.

As a refresher, Frankfort overcame a 60-41 fourth-quarter deficit to take down Fort Hill, 83-73, in overtime. The crowd was spirited, and the comeback was unlike any I’ve witnessed.

Off the court, however, there was another battle being waged.

Administration from Frankfort High School approached a group of Fort Hill students at halftime who made the trip across the Potomac River and informed them of Frankfort’s rule to not direct chants, cheers, etc. at a specific player.

The player in question was Frankfort’s all-time leading scorer Jeremy Phillips, and the rule in question could best be explained as, “no names, no numbers.”

Nobody enforces a similar rule in Allegany or Garrett counties — much to the detriment of Alco’s Chris Manherz, who drew boos for 32 straight minutes every time he touched the ball in one game this winter — but it’s Frankfort’s house and it decides what flies there.

This is where the story diverges based on which side you speak to.

In one version, the Fort Hill students blew off the administrator, who wanted a “yes sir” as confirmation. In another, the students weren’t doing anything wrong to begin with.

There’s also a cultural difference that can’t be ignored. There is a belief by some at Frankfort, right or wrong, that behavior that is OK at Fort Hill High School isn’t OK at Frankfort.

And from my own experience, Frankfort does run a pretty tight ship.

Fort Hill did not have an administrator at the game, there was a heated argument between an adult and Frankfort’s administration — with raised voices and finger pointing — and most of us quickly forgot the incident once the game morphed into a surprise classic.

Afterwards, however, the battle continued, and social media posts from Fort Hill folks — likely emotional from what transpired on the court — expressed their displeasure with Frankfort’s administration.

These posts incorrectly stated that Fort Hill’s students were told they couldn’t cheer at all, and some of the comments were very personal, accusing administrators of being bullies when they were in high school, among other insults.

Both parties could have handled things better by my estimation. I know, very brave of me to say, but it’s my truth.

If you’ve been to Fort Hill games, particularly road games, you’d know the students don’t travel well. A couple dozen kids made the trip at most.

The worst offenders, by most accounts, amounted to three kids.

Situated in the upper deck, I wasn’t aware that there was a Fort Hill student section until they were spoken to at halftime.

What I’m saying is, Frankfort’s administration, likely due to past behavior it took issue with, had rabbit ears, and buttons were pushed as a result.

If the behavior was bad enough to justify suspending a relationship between the schools in all sports, then eject the guilty parties and move on. For one reason or another, a decision was made not to.

Still, Fort Hill’s adults should have handled the situation better and not contributed to the mess.

And I can’t say with certainty, but if the discourse had not gotten very personal — defamatory even — on social media, that letter may not have been sent.

Social media is in many ways a cancer to a community like this. Look how Cumberland on Patrol, a Facebook page with a monopoly on local disinformation, posted pictures on Friday of the lady flipping the bird at the Southern girls game, incorrectly stating it was a boys game and not specifying which school the fan hailed from — leading some to believe they were local.

Posts like that without context serve only to fracture our community and divide us for engagement.

The Fort Hill fans involved will have to live with the fact that they played a role in a great local rivalry ending, possibly forever. Even if Frankfort did poke the bear, so to speak, adults have the agency to take the high road.

Our actions have consequences online too. Take time to ask yourself what the best possible outcome of a post is, and then the worst, before hitting send.

People are far too comfortable speaking on somebody else’s name, bashing coaches, trashing officials and hating their neighbors behind a keyboard.

But I pose this question: What is Fort Hill’s administration supposed to do about that? You give them a stern talking to, ask them to delete the post, and then what? Unplug an adult’s router or confiscate their phone?

Is there a belief at Frankfort that Fort Hill’s general fanbase and student population is too far-gone to rein in? If so, that’s a very small-town view of the situation, by my estimation.

Nobody’s safety has been compromised at these sporting events, something you can’t say in many places around the country. Even at our worst we have it pretty good.

Still, the basketball game wasn’t an isolated incident in Frankfort’s judgment.

There was an incident in the junior varsity game that same day, in which Frankfort alleges insults were directed at an injured Falcons player.

The school cited Fort Hill fans showering words amounting to, “you beat us in JV but you’re too scared to play us in varsity” after the Falcons beat them in JV football, an over-the-top adult ripping into administrators after a JV soccer match at Frankfort, and other verbal altercations.

Is it petty for Frankfort to respond the way it has by dropping Fort Hill? It absolutely is, and I don’t think it’s justified for a number of other sports — which don’t have championship aspirations, rabid crowds, etc. as a football or basketball game would.

But it’s Frankfort’s prerogative.

I can scarcely have a conversation with Frankfort football coach Kevin Whiteman in the fall without him lamenting his tiredness in fielding the Fort Hill question at the market.

Let it go Fort Hill fans. They’re not going to play you.

And on the flip side, you’ve decided at Frankfort to not play Fort Hill in football, so why do you care what Big Red faithful say to you on the street or on social media? Tell them to kiss your rings and move on.

It’s all silly, petty and childish, and our kids are worse for it. Our adults can’t get along, and our youth suffer.

There are obvious solutions and concessions to make it work — just don’t play in basketball for a year or two, require an administrator from both schools at games, etc. — but it starts with a face-to-face conversation and a commitment to take the matter seriously.

In our increasingly digital age, one that has stripped us of our mutual sense of community, that may be too much to ask.