It seems as if those at the Amelia County High School football stadium and those monitoring the game on social media made a broad and false assumption when Prince Edward County football players entered a locker room before the National Anthem was played.

When many heard about the players’ actions — which included them simply entering the locker room unknowingly when the National Anthem began playing — social media lit up with indictments that the team and its members were guilty of protesting by not being outside during the playing of the anthem.

It’s almost like people were waiting for it to happen, holding their phones primed to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Many on social media scolded the team, its coaches and others connected to what they incorrectly thought was a protest.

“Because of the various bands and changes to accommodate the Amelia homecoming activities, our players and a few of our coaches did not hear the musical transition and continued to move to their designated area,” Prince Edward County Public Schools Family and Community Engagement Liaison Jennifer Kinne said in a statement following the perceived incident. “The team’s absence from the football field was not in protest nor support of any national events, rather, the team was going to the locker room for last-minute preparation and to await the beginning of the game.”

It’s our hope this serves as a valuable lesson to those who are geared toward ideological division, criticizing before knowing the facts and quickly casting the first stone.