COLUMBIANA — The Columbiana at Valley Christian football game scheduled for Saturday night was postponed after Valley players were involved in a confrontation involving a gun the day before.

“At the beginning of our football practice (Friday), three of our former students arrived at the practice field to continue a physical altercation that involved a group of our current football players,” Valley Christian president Michael A. Pecchia said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, one of the former students retrieved a gun from his car. Thankfully, our head coach recognized the former student and confronted him. The young man immediately fled the scene without further incident.”

The game was canceled soon after.

“The administration had a conference call,” Columbiana coach Bob Spaite said. “There were some genuine safety concerns.”

He was at the United-East Palestine game Friday night with a dozen of his players when he got the call right before halftime.

“They were concerned it wasn’t over,” Spaite said. ” The young man who had the gun still hadn’t been found. They made the right call.”

There has been talk about playing the game at the end of the regular season, but those kind of games are unlikely.

“We’ve never had any issues with Valley,” Spaite said. “There’s never been an incident with them.”

Valley Christian practices at the old Youngstown South High School stadium and plays its home games at Liberty High School.

“We met at 10 o’clock in the morning (Saturday) and had the weight room open.” Spaite said. “It was a voluntary thing. We’ll get back at it on Monday.”

The Clippers are 3-3 on the season and will host winless Wellsville on Friday.

“We had a weekend off in the middle of the season, which is unusual,” Spaite said. “My wife and I went down to Mountaineer (on Saturday). I don’t gamble. We watched the Ohio State game.

“I’m not a fan of gambling. I break out into a cold sweat when I put a $20 bill into the machine.”

Valley (3-3) will play at Eastern Ohio Athletic Conference leader United on Friday in a battle of Eagles.

“We have not nor are we considering canceling our entire season as has been rumored,” Pecchia said.