Varsity squad to sit against Monroe after incident

This week’s football game against Monroe Area will be a bit different than normal. 

Last week during the fourth quarter of the Classic City Championship, a late hit by the Cedar sideline led to a fight that resulted in a pair of ejections, along with the junior varsity team taking over. Since then, the Georgia High School Association decided that numerous players will be suspended for a game. 

“You don’t have an option, if you break the rules you pay the consequences,” Head Coach Leroy Ryals said. ”There’s no question, no rebuttal, you can’t even appeal it, it is what it is.”

This incident triggered a series of decisions for the football program, ending with the cancellation of Thursday night’s junior varsity game against Clarke Central  to ensure that the players will be fresh and fit to play a bigger role in Friday’s varsity matchup against Monroe Area High School. 

While most of the varsity team will be on the sideline, a few of them will still take the field including last week’s starting quarterback Anthony Hubbard. Against Central, Hubbard had an inconsistent night completing only 9-20 passes but gaining 112 passing yards. 75 of those yards came from senior wide receiver Jason Massey, who will not be playing in the Monroe game. Massey was a key part of the offense versus Central with an explosive catch and run for over 60 yards. 

“I really could have scored on that play, but it is what it is. It felt good though,” Massey said.

Monroe Area’s squad will line up and play in a very similar manner to Central, with another dual-threat quarterback, Jeremiah Anderson leading the way, picking up 145 rushing yards in a 39-45 loss against Loganville.

“We just got to get more people to the ball. They just have to play their assignments because he (Anderson) might fake one way and run the other,” Ryals said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Waters-Wilkins Stadium. The Clarke County School District will be enforcing a “clear bag” policy for all future sporting events, including Friday’s game. This week’s student section theme is “Neon.” Tickets are available via Gofan, and fans who wish to watch from home can tune in through an NFHS network subscription.