HARVEST, Ala. — UPDATE: The Madison County Schools Board of Education held a special session to discuss the incident at the Hazel Green-Sparkman football game. Madison County Schools said a "major disruption" at a high school football game Friday night Aug. 25 led to the suspension of the game.
School officials gave an update on the investigation in to the incident and heard from community members during the Tuesday night meeting. The district shares that new game day rules will be implemented including:
- Elementary and middle school students must be accompanied by an adult to be granted entry to a game.
- Unaccompanied students who are unable to present a driver's license will be denied entry.
- Spectators may not be in possession of large bags or backpacks unless there is a parental or medical need.
- Spectators must keep walkways clear for fans, teams and officials. Loitering is not permitted and ticket sales will be capped.
- Football stadiums at 80% of the venue's capacity. Basketball gymnasium at 90% of the venue's capacity.
New rules, like age limit to enter, may have to revisited further. "One of the things we're going to work through as we progress through this is the possibility of a student pass gate," Ken Kubik of the Madison County School board shares. "So that way we have a separate entrance for our students to go through where they can be identified accordingly."
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The game will not be replayed, according to officials. Sparkman High School was declared the winner with a 31-0 lead at the time the game was ended.
FOX54 reached out to the Alabama High School Athletics Association to see if there would be any potential sanctions or penalties to either school. AHSAA responded back with the following: "The game was declared ended by both schools' agreement. Any penalties to those responsible for the disruption will be up to the participating schools."
In addition, AHSAA Executive Director Alvin Briggs said in a written statement, "The AHSAA is aware of incidents that occurred in the stands during football contests last week and is thankful the host school administration worked quickly and closely with local security to resolve the incidents. Additionally, the AHSAA applauds the member schools’ commitment in establishing and practicing emergency action plans for every sporting venue."
The game between the Hazel Green High School Trojans and the Sparkman High School Senators was taking place on the Senators' home turf. According to a statement released by the district on social media, there were two separate occasions where "a large number of students in the open area on the south end of the stadium began running and causing a major disruption."
In a Sunday evening social media update, Madison County School System administrators confirmed there were no weapons and no injuries involved in the incident. School officials said the incident "will be thoroughly investigated, and proper action will be taken."
The school district also took social media users to task for "fear-mongering" with unsubstantiated rumors over the weekend. "It is disheartening to read people's false comments on social media," officials wrote. "Without knowing the facts of what happened, this is fear-mongering and has no place in a school or school district environment."
As of Monday afternoon, neither high school's social media accounts mentioned the incident or its immediate impacts.
MCSS Board of Education will be holding a special meeting Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. to address the incident to discuss the incident and how security will be addressed moving forward.
"We look forward to putting this situation behind us and allowing our student-athletes and coaches to compete without worrying about what may happen off the field or court," MCSS wrote. "We will continue to work with our partners to ensure the individuals who instigated the panic will be held accountable to the fullest reach of our abilities."
Thursday and Friday marked Week Zero of regularly scheduled high school football action across North Alabama. Click here for FOX54's First Down Friday Night coverage of highlighted games.