The unyielding attack on our values and morals continues as two Ohio high school football players were suspended for an act of patriotism. What did they do exactly? They flew two flags supporting fallen firefighters and police officers ahead of their Sept. 11th football game.

The two students, Brady Williams and Jared Bentley attended Little Miami High School in Morrow, Ohio before their suspension. According to WKRC-TV, both students had a personal connection to why they decided to show their support. For Brady, it is his father, who serves as a police officer. The senior cornerback told reporters he wasn’t trying to make a political statement. He said, “I was just doing it to honor the people that lost their lives 19 years ago.”

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As for Jared, he doesn’t see anything wrong in what he did since his father is a firefighter. That is the reason Jared flew the flag with a thin red line on it to support the firefighters on 9/11. He told reporters, “”I was all for it, because my dad is a firefighter, and if it had been him killed on 9/11, I would have wanted someone to do it for him.”

Before the game, both students went through the proper channels to get permission to run with the flags but were ultimately denied. Still, Brady believed it was more important to honor those who gave their lives for this country than stand quietly by. As mentioned above, the school suspended both boys indefinitely.

While some are calling the decision harsh, given the reasoning behind the flags, Superintended Gregory Power isn’t backing down from the decision saying, “We can’t have students who decide to do something anyway after they’ve been told that they shouldn’t be doing it. We did not want to place ourselves in a circumstance where another family might want a different flag to come out of the tunnel, one that may be [one that] many other families may not agree with from a political perspective.”

Little Miami School also released a statement saying they are saddened by the news and will always support veterans and first responders.