Today at three o’clock, two of the most talented and well known high school football programs in the city will scrimmage as a part of spring football activities. The scrimmage will sure to be one that features some of the top prospects and talent in the country. It will be a highly anticipated test of wills amongst players who’ve competed against one another for years. It’s what makes Jacksonville and North East Florida such a unique and prominent place for High School Football. Yet this scrimmage is unique for other reasons than the contest itself. What makes this scrimmage unique is the fact that you the fan won’t be able to see it. The scrimmage between White and First Coast High Schools is closed to the general public. Duval Sports contacted Duval County Athletic Director Tammie Tallie who forwarded me the official statement from the district.
Official Statement:
“In an effort to ensure the safety of students, the community and campuses, we are restricting the public’s access to the game,”
– Duval County Public Schools Communications
Although not confirmed by the School Board, the closure is undoubtedly in lieu of the recent shootings surrounding First Coast football player Johnnel Johnson and eighteen year old Jaquan Reeves that resulted in their deaths. Johnson was gunned down April 25th at a house party in Arlinlgton after attending a prom. Reeves was shot on May 16th at a vigil for the slain Johnson which was being held at Sheffield Park near Oceanway in North Jacksonville. It is not known at this time if the two shootings were related to one another. One thing that is known is that one of the victims (Johnson) was a football player at First Coast, creating a sense of heightened awareness around that team. That awareness in some part has prompted the Duval County School Board to take precautions to safe guard the public by closing the scrimmage. But is this an overreaction? Residents of Jacksonville weigh in…..
“I think it’s completely ridiculous that they punish the parents and football players for the acts of others. We’re not inner city Baltimore here”.
-anonymous
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Sadly Jacksonville’s best high school spring football jamboree will be played in an empty stadium due to safety concerns #pray4firstcoast
— jeff(@kayakg8tor) May 21, 2015
“It’s real sad how some bad people with guns ruined this for everyone”.
– anonoymous <blockquoteclass=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”>
This Ed White vsFirst Coast deal is honestly the right thing to do. My only question is why do we even have metal detectors at gms? #shrugs— joemoore10 (@joemoore10) May 20, 2015
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So we can’t go to the edwhite vs. First coast game? 😕😩
— || Ny. || (@nnc___) May 21, 2015
“If we start this now, we’re going to have to start doing this for all of First coast games during the season. People will be scared to go to their games”.
-anonymous
Tell us what you think…
The quotes are from random persons interviewed by Duval Sports and do not reflect the views or opinions of DuvalSports LLC.
