Police show support for youth football team, Hyde

FOSTORIA — Fostoria Police Division is showing its support for players in Fostoria Youth Football as the organization attempts to patch together a season after its dismissal from the Tiffin Youth Football league. Amid differing opinions between the Fostoria and Tiffin organizations regarding safety issues and player behavior for the two weeks the Fostoria Bills competed in the Tiffin league before being voted out by the league's board of directors, Fostoria Police Division made a post Tuesday on Facebook expressing its support of the approximately 50 Fostoria youngsters who were affected. This week, Fostoria officers are wearing Buffalo Bills hats, and they will then be allowed to wear the hats on the game days of the NFL Bills to show support for safety Micah Hyde, who is now in his 10th professional season after having been an All-Ohio standout at Fostoria High School. Seed money for the Fostoria youth teams came from Hyde's Fostoria-based foundation, IMagINe for Youth, and the teams were subsequently named the Bills. After not being able to play last week, Fostoria's youth teams are scheduled for games against the Toledo Ducks on Sunday, according to Fostoria Youth Football's Facebook page. "In the department, we've all been talking and watching on social media what's going on with the kids and seeing if they were going to get to play, and (Student Resource Officer Brandon) Kiser came up with the idea of doing something for the kids. ... The kids are the ones who had it taken away from them," Fostoria Police Chief Gabe Wedge said in an interview Wednesday. "In support of the kids on the Fostoria Biddy Football team, the Fostoria Police Department will be wearing Bills hats this week while on duty," the police division's Facebook post said. "While we don't have all the facts of what actually happened, the police know there's always 3 sides to every story, lol. At the end of the day, the kids are the ones who suffered from what ultimately looks to be a simple breakdown in communication. "The department is very happy to hear that the kids were able to pick up a couple of games with other schools and have the opportunity to show off all the hard work they have put in. Chief Gabe Wedge added officers are also allowed to wear the hats on duty when the Buffalo Bills are playing in support of #23 Micah Hyde ... except on Nov. 20, when they play his beloved Cleveland Browns!" Wedge said he was quickly able to procure several Bills hats, and he distributed them to the officers to begin wearing on Tuesday morning. The Fostoria Bills' games against the Toledo Ducks on Sunday will be played on the new artificial turf on Dick Kidwell Field at Memorial Stadium. The third- and fourth-grade "junior varsity" game is scheduled for noon, with the fifth- and sixth-grade "varsity" contest set for 2 p.m. The Buffalo Bills are slated to host the Tennessee Titans for next week's Monday Night Football game on ESPN.