Montrose County School District, Mesa Ridge football coach trade veiled accusations after racist, homophobic messages found in visiting locker room at state playoff game

The discovery of racist and homophobic messages in the visitors locker room at a high school football game at Montrose High School has left parties connected to two schools leveling veiled accusations against one another.

The incident, which occurred at a Class 4A state playoff game between Mesa Ridge and Montrose last Saturday, came to light the next day when Mesa Ridge coach Jerimi Calip shared images of the messages with media.

That prompted an investigation by Montrose County School District that included a review of 24 hours of surveillance footage and concluded that the district had “significant doubts that this was in any way targeted against Mesa Ridge.”

Calip told The Denver Post that players and staff discovered the messages before the game began. He said he didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation until he reviewed video and photos taken by his staff afterward.

Video sent by Calip to The Post revealed the N-word, a derogatory remark for Asians and a swastika, among other hate speech, written in the dust of the lockers. Calip said the messages affected the play of his team in the 53-21 loss.

“Until I got almost all the way home, I hadn’t read all the messages, and at that point, I was like, ‘Are you serious right now?’ Anger started to set in, and then it started to make sense how our kids were playing the way they were playing,” Calip said. “I didn’t even recognize my team. … They were mentally out of it. They were angry and hurt and you could see the looks on their face.

“… Had I saw that before the game, and taken the time to read those messages, we wouldn’t have played. We would’ve left. There’s nothing anyone could’ve said to make me keep my kids there and expose them to that kind of hate.”

Montrose County School District released a statement on Tuesday, saying the district is “deeply troubled” by what happened.

The district said it launched its internal investigation in response to Mesa Ridge’s complaints, which were sent to CHSAA. MCSD said it reviewed surveillance footage covering the entrance to the Grizzlies’ locker room. The team used a P.E. locker room at the stadium since the normal visitors locker room has been unfit for use recently due to a sewage issue, according to MCSD public information officer Matt Jenkins.

“The footage confirms that the only individuals who entered or exited the locker room during that time were Mesa Ridge players and staff and the Montrose High School Athletic Director,” MCSD’s statement said. “No Montrose High School football players were in the area.”

MCSD added that the district finds “the timing and handling of the matter concerning. Mesa Ridge had multiple opportunities to report this issue to Montrose staff, coaches, or the athletic director before, during, and directly after the game. However, no such report was made. … This approach raises questions about the intent and motivations behind the allegations.”

Calip took issue with that characterization and said he wanted whoever wrote the messages to be held responsible. He also said that after the game, a social media account called “Montrose Barstool,” which is not affiliated with the high school, posted a since-deleted picture of Mike Tyson with his butt exposed, and a pair of Mesa Ridge logos on each cheek.

“I don’t see any reason for our kids to go in and write stuff like that …  and there wasn’t enough time for our kids to do that,” Calip said. “And the messages were in (thick) dust, sitting there in a locker room that looked like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

“… Look at that picture (posted by Montrose Barstool), and you tell me how is it that my kids, my community and myself would believe that no one knew about this?”

MCSD said the source of the hateful messages remains unknown. The district is now working with the Montrose Police Department to deepen its investigation into the incident.

Without naming the schools involved, CHSAA released a statement on Monday afternoon that acknowledged it had been “made aware of a hateful display of racism and homophobia associated with a postseason event.”

“The Colorado High School Activities Association strongly condemns racism, discrimination and hate in any and all forms,” the statement read. “We understand that part of our responsibility as adult caretakers to a younger generation is to provide modeling and education where it is needed most. We are deeply committed to supporting our schools as they work through unacceptable displays such as this.”

From the perspective of Mesa Ridge, which has many minorities on the football team and is a Widefield School District 3 school, Calip said he hopes that Montrose players weren’t behind the messages. Administrators from both schools have been in contact with each other after the incident was reported, Jenkins said.

Montrose head coach Brett Mertens and athletic director Bradd Schafer did not respond directly to The Post’s request for comment.

“I’d like to think Coach Mertens wouldn’t allow that kind of junk in his program,” Calip said.