Bogalusa High School has been ordered to play its final home football game at a neutral site, after administrators and state sports officials expressed concern about recent gun violence there.
Bogalusa City Schools superintendent Lisa Tanner said their November 4 game against Albany was ordered to be moved by the LHSAA following a 3-2 vote by the athletic district’s principals.
Tanner called it disheartening, but said the concern was that there had been shootings going on in the community, and it was something they could not police.
The relocation order was in response to the Oct. 14 gunfight that occurred just outside the team’s stadium during the fourth quarter of the school’s homecoming game. Police said an armed 15 YO from Covington, Jerry Smith, was fatally shot in that gun battle with at least two other suspects who remain at large.
Tanner said her school district could appeal the decision, but it is not clear how that would happen or how soon a final ruling would be made.
