Two and a half cheers to Baltimore County officials for swift action in ordering forfeits and suspensions in conjunction with a fight near the end of Carver A&T-Chesapeake boys basketball game last Friday.

County athletics coordinator Ron Belinko was entirely correct when he told The Sun's Stefen Lovelace that the school system had to "send a strong message that we won't tolerate it.'

If ordering the schools to forfeit games this week, as well as punishing the players involved stops even one more of these fights, then the action was warranted. There's a rising level of chippiness creeping into the higher profile high school sports that needs to be checked immediately, and coaches and parents need to be willing to do more to curb potentially unsavory behavior before it gets to the court.

The missing half-cheer comes because officials at both schools didn't announce which players were involved and potentially subject to season or game suspensions. While school suspensions are covered by privacy rules, participating in interscholastic athletics should not be, and interested parties will know as early as the first post-forfeit game when they
check the respective benches to see who's missing.