Verbena High School’s homecoming football game against Fayetteville on Friday, Oct. 5, is canceled because of illness with some of the players on the Fayetteville team.

According to Gayle Jones, public information officer for Talladega County Schools, 22 of Fayetteville’s 33 players have been out of school this week with stomach virus symptoms.

“They’re weak,” Jones said. “They haven’t been able to practice. I would doubt very seriously they would be in any condition to play football.”

In a conference call Thursday, the Alabama High School Athletic Association granted Fayetteville permission to forfeit the game.

The win is Verbena’s first of the season.

Previously, the schools had discussed rescheduling the game for Oct. 6 or 8, but officials at both Fayetteville and Verbena were hesitant to do so.

Jones was unsure if Fayetteville players would be healthy enough by Saturday or Monday to play.

“You can’t play a football game with 11 players,” Jones said and added, “There are things more important than football. We just want them to get well.”

Likewise, the Red Devils have struggled this season with keeping their number of healthy players significantly higher than the number of players sidelined because of injury.

VHS Principal Robin Cagle said Verbena’s junior varsity players’ homecoming game is set for Oct. 9, so they wouldn’t have been allowed to fill positions for varsity players in their game if it had been rescheduled for Oct. 8.

“We have had several (players) that have been out due to injury,” Cagle said. “This will allow us another week to recover from our injuries and do our best in the next game.”

VHS Homecoming festivities will take place Friday, Oct. 19, as the Red Devils host St. Jude in a region game at 7 p.m.

The homecoming queen and court will be announced at 6:15 p.m.

“We encourage everyone to come and join us,” Cagle said.

In addition, a homecoming dance will be held for grades 6–12.

Admission is $6 per person, and proceeds will go toward furnishing math textbooks for students in those grades.