CLEVELAND — Principals at Collinwood High School and Shaw High School have decided to close Friday night's football game to spectators as an extra precaution, according to Tom Ott.
The decision comes after heightened tensions said Ott, who is the Interim Deputy Chief of Communications for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
This is the second game in Northeast Ohio to have modifications made as a result of tension and disagreement, as the matchup between Garfield Heights High School and Lutheran East High School.
"Our boys play hard every week, they practice and I think being so close to home they are losing out on their fan base because we show up a lot for our games," said Shaw Alum Matthew Mills.
Mills said this weekend was Shaw Alumni weekend and a lot of graduates would've attended the football game if it was open to the public.
Garfield Heights and Lutheran East played against each other on Thursday night rather than Friday.
"I want to see my team members play their game," said Collinwood Alum Latasha Wilson. "I wanted to be here watching them and cheer them on and I can't because they wont let me in."
This is Collinwood's first game of the season as Shaw is a non-conference opponent, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
As for Shaw, this is their third game of the season, sitting at 1-1. They come into tonight's game against Collinwood after a win against Youngstown East last Friday.
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