Parents, fans upset after GHSA reschedules football championship games

ATLANTA — Parents of local high schoolers are upset after their highly-anticipated championship games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium were canceled due to the weekend snow.

The games will now be played at various high schools in Georgia.

That’s issue number one. The other problem -- those who bought tickets aren’t getting refunds.

A lot of people drove hours, rented hotel rooms and even shut down their businesses to attend.

Horace Mayberry said his mother-in-law closed her business so she could go to a game.

“Like my mother-in-law, she owns a restaurant in Moultrie. She closed down for the weekend just so she could come to the game,” Mayberry said. “I don’t think that’s fair for them to do that."

TRENDING STORIES:

• LIST: Here's how much snow fell across Georgia counties
• Suspect injured, arrested in "explosion" in New York City
• Can you find the camouflaged soldier hidden in this viral photo?

For Mayberry, the alternative is not the same.

“At Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you pay your 20 dollars for the ticket, it’s good for all four games. But now that they moved the games to the high school stadiums, if you want to go to more than one then you got to move around," he said.

More than the money, fans said they'll miss the experience.

“They were really looking forward to it. Not just the schools that are there but kids that were coming to watch,” said GHSA fan, Keith Smith.

GHSA referred Channel 2 Action News to their website, which states tickets will be honored at the high school stadiums where the games are played.

But many, like Mayberry, can’t make it next weekend and want their money back.

The decision was also unanimously unpopular among the six teams now playing on the road.

Rome head coach John Reid called the move ‘’a joke.’’ Hapeville Charter coach Winston Gordon called it a ''tragedy.’’ Blessed Trinity’s Tim McFarlin said it’s ‘’sad’’ that 6,000 fans who bought pre-sale tickets for a postponed game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium now won’t fit in Marist’s 4,000-seat Hughes-Spalding Stadium.

The GHSA says it was just following the contingency plan that it had communicated to the schools last week.

“This is what we said we’d do,’’ GHSA executive director Dr. Robin Hines said Monday. “Plans were already in place for these schools to go and host the games. That’s how the first four rounds were done. For many, many years before the finals moved into the Georgia Dome [in 2008], that’s the way the GHSA had done it. After weighing everything, we made the decision to stick to the plan.’’

The eight championship games were originally scheduled for last Friday and Saturday at the Falcons’ new domed stadium, but only two of those games – Eagle’s Landing Christian vs. Athens Academy and Calhoun vs. Peach County – were played before heavy snow prompted the GHSA to postpone the rest.

That marked the first time in 70 years of GHSA football playoffs that significant postponements had occurred.

There is nothing definitive in the GHSA’s bylaws that dictate where postponed championships must be played. Following guidelines it posted via Twitter last week, the GHSA ruled that the unplayed games would go to the home fields of the higher-seeded teams.

Calhoun players run onto the field before their game against Peach County during the Class AAA Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium Friday, December 8, 2017, in Atlanta. Jason Getz/Photo
That put Colquitt County at North Gwinnett (Class AAAAAAA), Coffee at Lee County (AAAAAA), Blessed Trinity at Marist (AAAA) and Clinch County at Irwin County (A). For the two games involving No. 1 seeds, a coin flip sent Rome to Warner Robins (AAAAA) and Hapeville Charter to Rabun County (AA).

North Gwinnett, Lee County, Irwin County and Rabun County have never hosted state-title games, and they are thrilled at the opportunity. ‘’We’re living the dream,’’ said Rabun County coach Lee Shaw.

But the visitors are losing sleep.

‘’It’s just a tragedy that grown people don’t step up and do what’s right by the children,’’ said Hapeville Charter’s Gordon, whose team is traveling 120 miles to Rabun. ‘’We’ve played every No. 1 seed on the road this year. We’ve lost every coin toss. At some point, the kids are going to think everybody’s against us. You’d just think that greater minds will get together and see if these kids can play at Georgia Tech or Georgia State. It’s supposed to be a neutral site.’’

Mercedes-Benz Stadium is eight miles from Hapeville. The Hornets now will pay for charter buses for the drive into northeast Georgia.

Neutral fields are not guaranteed by the GHSA. In fact, until 2008, most every championship game for the previous 60 years had been played on a team’s home field.

In the 1990s, in a move that initially divided the state, the GHSA began staging the semifinals in the Georgia Dome. GHSA finally won a consensus to move the state finals to the Dome and give the semifinals back to the high schools. At the time, in ’08, Georgia was the only state in the South that didn’t hold neutral-site finals, and the change came only after years of vehement resistance, especially among rural and South Georgia schools.

The promise of more revenue and better crowd control won the day, but two years into the Dome finals, an AJC survey showed that almost 58 percent of Georgia high school coaches opposed it. Many still prefer having the championship games at the schools and their local communities.

But there’s not a coach traveling this weekend who is happy about it. For one, they weren’t prepared for it.

‘’They’ve got to have a better contingency plan,’’ said Colquitt County coach Rush Propst, whose team will travel 225 miles to Gwinnett County on Friday. “This is a premier sport that needs to be protected in our state, and we must do what we can to promote it. This does not promote it.’’

Colquitt County pleaded its case to the GHSA on Monday, questioning whether North Gwinnett had enough seats or an adequate field for a championship. Blessed Trinity and Coffee also made last-ditch arguments.

GHSA officials went to Lee County and North Gwinnett to measure bleacher seats to confirm that they can accommodate the required 6,000. Marist staved off a possible move to McEachern’s neutral Cantrell Stadium in Cobb County by securing portable bleachers to reach the minimum 4,000 for AAAA.

The most disgruntled of travelers are probably Hapeville and Rome, the only region champions that are now playing on the road. Rome must travel 175 miles to Warner Robins in a game between 14-0 teams.

Rome coach Reid was blunt when asked if he was comfortable with the GHSA’s resolution.

‘’Are you kidding? This is a joke,’’ Reid said. “No plan. We have yet to be told how this will play out. Our fans, our band, etc., are supposed to drive through Atlanta on Friday afternoon four hours, and this is the plan for the state championship?’’

Reid is concerned that Warner Robins’ McConnell-Talbert Stadium doesn’t have enough seats. Rome fans bought its allotted 3,000 tickets last week but brought 10,000 fans last year to the Georgia Dome championship game against Buford, according to Reid. McConnell-Talbert holds about 8,000.

Blessed Trinity coach Tim McFarlin is also concerned about facility size.

‘’Even if Marist brings in 1,000 portable seats, we’re still short and people who buy tickets deserve a seat,’’ McFarlin said. “Plus, parking and traffic flow at Marist may not accommodate 6,000 to 10,000. … Marist or Blessed Trinity hosting a home game really isn't the main issue. Seating, proper portables, liability and parking are the major concerns when hosting the title game.’’

That’s also Coffee’s argument against traveling to Lee County. Coffee sold 4,000 pre-sale tickets and sent 20 school buses to Atlanta for Friday night’s postponed game.

‘’There’s just no way that their stadium can hold this many people,’’ Coffee County Schools superintendent Dr. Morris Leis said. ‘’It’s not a neutral site. Our boys have played hard all year to go to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and we understand the weather. That’s nobody’s fault. But for Lee County to get to play at home, our fans and players are getting two negatives. Why not give them a neutral site that could be a win-win for everybody?’’

Coffee has gotten permission from Lowndes, Tift County and Albany State to use their stadiums, but the home team has veto power provided that its facility is GHSA-approved. Rome asked the GHSA on Monday to move the game to Georgia State’s stadium, the former Turner Field. Hines acknowledged that Georgia State offered to help but that plans were in motion, and there were logistical issues.

‘’We considered it; we considered everything,’’ Hines said. “But it’s a stadium we’re not familiar with; we’re not sure what staffing would be. Preparations would need to begin immediately. And I have confidence in our member schools that have put on events all year long to put on a state championship that’s going to be really exciting.’’

Lee County coach Dean Fabrizio, thrilled at the chance to host, felt the GHSA’s decision was reasonable.

‘’This is one thing that athletics teaches us – how to deal with disappointment and last-minute adjustments,’’ Fabrizio said. ‘’We’re going to follow the GHSA and go where they tell us to play. It just so happens we’re the No. 1 seed. [Coffee is seeded No. 3.] We’re happy to play in a state championship game regardless of where it’s played.’’

Clinch County coach Jim Dickerson says he’s disappointed mostly for his players. Instead of playing in an NFL stadium, they’ll be going to Irwin County, a region rival that they’ve visited plenty of times.

‘’It was kind of like they were ready to open the box of the big Christmas present after seeing it sit under the Christmas tree all this time,’’ Dickerson said. “And then the night before Christmas, somebody stole it. But kids are resilient. They’ll be just fine.’’

Cox Media Group