Clear to partly cloudy.
Low 59F.
Winds light and variable..
Clear to partly cloudy.
Low 59F.
Winds light and variable.
Updated: November 2, 2022 @ 10:29 pm Antonio Lopinto (14) breaks tackles to score in the second half against Fisher.
Antonio Lopinto (14) breaks tackles to score in the second half against Fisher.
Friday’s District 7-3A football showdown between Albany and Bogalusa will not take place.
Albany principal Sammie Lacara said Albany opted to forfeit the game over safety concerns after the contest was moved back to Bogalusa.
Lacara said district principals voted 4-0 to accept the forfeit on Tuesday. “Just after looking at it, it just seemed it just seemed like it was the better part of valor, I guess,” Lacara said. “I don’t like the idea of forfeit.
Forfeit never comes across my mouth or my mind in a perfect world, but we just aren’t dealing with a perfect world right now.” Last week, the district’s principals voted 3-2 to move the Albany-Bogalusa game to a neutral site, which Lacara said was likely to be Amite, in the wake of a fatal shooting at Bogalusa’s stadium during the Lumberjacks’ game against Sumner on Oct. 14.
After reconsideration by member principals, the game was moved back to Bogalusa.
Lacara said Bogalusa presented a safety plan at the initial meeting which included 12-15 officers patrolling the game, metal detectors, clear bags for fans, two parking areas for Albany fans which allowed for no crossover between fans and additional lighting and cameras. “In the end, I thought it was actually a very good plan,” he said. “I commend Bogalusa and the municipalities around them and Washington Parish and all the work they put in to doing what they thought would be necessary to make a safe environment.
I certainly commend them, and I think that it’s a step in the right direction because we’re going to have to play games moving forward.
Regardless of what we decide to do with this one in the short term, we want to be able to play games at Bogalusa, have Bogalusa come to our venue, be able to go to Sumner, Pine.
We all want to be able to play ball games and not have to do this.” “It was like, ‘Do we really want to force this issue right now when we don’t have to?
If you have to play the game because somebody’s playoff lives are on the line, I’d say, ‘OK.
I understand why we don’t want to maybe back off on this thing’.
But at this point, we just didn’t feel like we had to, or at least I didn’t as a principal,” Lacara continued. “The measures that I felt like we were going to have to go through, it’s not in our best interest.
I think everybody, for the most part’s, going to be supportive of what we’ve decided, and there may be some that are not, and that’s OK.
That’s not going to be a first for me.” Bogalusa mayor Wendy Perrette offered the following statement in a news release published in a story by The Bogalusa Daily News. “It’s unfortunate and it’s frustrating that our extensive efforts to address security concerns are being disregarded,” Perrette said. “Our student-athletes should have this final game of the season on their home field, with Senior Night being celebrated.
I remain committed to the safety of our city and to the students of BHS , my alma mater.
If nothing else, this situation has led to the implementation of a safety plan that will protect our students, athletes and community.” The District 7-3A game was key for both teams with Bogalusa (8-1, 4-0) coming off a 56-15 win over Pine, while Albany (6-4, 2-2) rallied to defeat Sumner 23-20.
Bogalusa is No. 2 in the Division III power rankings on geauxpreps.com , while Albany is No. 16 in Division II. before the forfeit. “It’s very tough,” Lacara said of the decision to forfeit. “How often does Albany get to say we’re playing for a district championship … It doesn’t happen often, and I think these kids certainly have earned that.
You hate to say that this is something that we needed to consider, but it’s almost like one of those things where you step back, you look at the whole dang picture and you say, ‘OK guys, what, again, is in our best interest?’ As a principal, that it’s a tough sell to the kids, but I can tell you now, our kids are very smart.
I think our kids understand a lot of what’s going on.
They know the concerns.
They’re not living in a vacuum.
I think in the end, they know, yeah, you’d love to be a district champion, but the big game is the playoffs here.
That’s your end game.
We’re in that.
Again, we like where we are, and we think we’ve got a lot of good football ahead of us.
It was an opportunity to just say OK, let’s just step back and do what’s in the best interest of everybody at the moment.” “We’ll take the week off basically and the ball team will get to heal a few bumps and bruises and get a little good week of practice under them and get ready for the playoffs,” Lacara continued. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
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