Emma Hughes & Julia Boston | Yearbook Editors

When the stadium opens for the Trojan football home opener tonight, the stands and field will be ready. And maybe a little cleaner than usual.

Power-washing crews have worked today to prepare the stadium after it was defaced late last night with paint, allegedly by students from the Whiteland community.

Principal Jeffry Henderson said there was no permanent damage, nothing was broken and the game will continue as scheduled. “It was simply a matter of cleanup,” Henderson said.

Henderson also said that Whiteland Community High School principal Tom Zobel reached out to him directly. Henderson said Zobel called to “apologize to the Center Grove community on behalf of the Whiteland community and to let us know that they are vigorously investigating and are confident that they will be able to determine who the responsible parties are.”

Both principals acknowledged that the actions of a few did not represent the attitudes or culture of the community.

Once the responsible parties are identified, Henderson said they will be responsible for the costs of the cleanup crews.

Though tensions between the schools have escalated, Henderson said he’s confident CG students and fans will demonstrate good sportsmanship tonight.

“Nothing that our students could do or might do would do anything other than cause greater conflict and greater problems,” Henderson said. “I want our school to be known as a class act and we should not stoop to the same levels of behavior.”