Let’s not allow local high school sports to become more of a political football than occurred last weekend. It appears a mistake was made. That has been recognized, an apology has been issued, steps are being taken to avoid similar problems in the future, and that needs to be an end to the flap over a football game Friday night between Brooke High School and Perry High School of Pittsburgh.

Apparently, the mere use of President Donald Trump’s last name in some contexts is considered racist by some people, to judge by reaction to a sign a few Brooke students displayed during the game. It read: “Trump Perry.”

Some Perry fans saw that as a display of racism. After the game, Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Anthony Hamlet released a statement in which he said this: ”Since the presidential campaign, superintendents across the country have found themselves apologizing for the use of President Donald Trump’s name to taunt minority students.”

Brooke County Superintendent Toni Paesano Shute reacted with a letter of apology to Hamlet. It referred to the sign as “insensitive, intimidating and offensive …” Shute added, “The sign’s message does not reflect our true beliefs, nor what we want to teach our children. … Policies were not followed by school administrators to ensure a climate free from bullying and harassment, and as a result people were offended in our home.”

Shute pledged to “make this a teaching moment to instill the core values of respect and dignity for all.”

What motivated those who produced and displayed the sign? Did they intend their message to have even an edge of bigotry to it? Or was it just an innocent play on words?

High school students can be very unpleasant, offending people, especially from rival schools, in a variety of ways. We doubt seriously the sign painters at Brooke intended their work to cause the depth of offense it did.

Whatever the purpose, some took offense to the sign, and that may be the teachable moment in all this — that perceptions can be just as important as intent.

More important than that single sign, however, was the attitude of Brooke fans and athletes in general. “After speaking with several individuals in attendance at the game, we have learned that despite the sign, no further incidents occurred and both teams displayed good sportsmanship towards each other,” the Pittsburgh superintendent noted this week.

That says far more than any thoughtless sign about Brooke students and fans.

A mistake was made. Young people will learn something from it. An apology was issued. There, the clock needs to run out on this controversy.