East vs. Craigmont Football Game to Resume after Friday Shooting

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A shooting near a high school football game between East and Craigmont Friday night caused the game to be postponed to Monday at a different field.

The score was 34-28 with almost five minutes left to go in the first half when the shooting happened just outside of Raleigh Egypt High School's stadium.

Friday's game was postponed after shots were heard coming from the Ashton Hills Apartments nearby. Residents there said it's not uncommon to see teens line up against the fence to watch football games, and sometimes become violent.

"You hear the gunshots, and all of a sudden you see people hit the ground, so we did the same thing in the house. Just take cover," said one apartment resident. "I wouldn't say it happens every game either, but there are some shooting incidents, some scuffling fights and stuff like that."

The game was rescheduled to resume Monday, this time at Halle Stadium.

MCS officials said they know of different incidents that have happened near Raleigh Egypt's stadium in the past, but for now there are no plans to stop using it for high school football games.

With this being the last week in the regular season of high school football, the teams will have to play two games in one week.

Athletics Director Smokey Gains said he knows the situation is not ideal for either team, but player safety comes first and last-minute schedule changes are not uncommon.

"Anything could happen, it just happened, we hope that we can rectify it and get people more involved and more police officers over there," he said. "We change all the time; just like when it is too hot, if the index is over 104 we have to change that. It is just unfortunate that this happened but we're on top of it."

The game resumes at 5:00pm with 4:38 remaining in the first half. At the time that the clock was stopped Friday, Craigmont led 34-28.