We're a little more than seven weeks away from the start of the high school football season and when most teams will be playing a 10 game regular schedule, the Shelbyville Dragons have only nine games after the Tenaha Tigers are said to have pulled out on their scheduled Sept. 11 game at Shelbyville.

 

Dragon AD and head football coach Jason Ferguson tells Center Broadcasting it was a game that he and his staff, players and fans wanted and he believed the Tiger players and fans did as well. However, Ferguson believes the decision came from Tenaha ISD administration.

 

After playing only nine minutes of a shortened game in Tenaha a year ago September that was halted due to lightning, the air has been "thick" to say the least speculating whether this rematch would happen. It became official Monday when Shelbyville ISD revised its varsity football schedule and it showed an open date the third week in what was to be Shelbyville’s homecoming.

 

Coach Ferguson said it appeared Tenaha ISD had made the decision not to play Shelbyville weeks ago, noting they had filled the date with Santo, out west of Ft Worth, weeks before giving notice to Shelbyville they were cancelling. He said it did not allow time for him to schedule a game.

 

There were a lot of heavy hearts the week of last season's meeting as a Tenaha student had passed away and her funeral was to be Saturday, after Friday's scheduled game.

 

Coach Ferguson said Tenaha ISD Superintendent Scott Tyner suggested during the sub-varsity games to move the varsity game from Friday to Saturday evening because of the possibility of thunderstorms on Friday, after the student's funeral.

 

Coach Ferguson said moving the game to Saturday was never agreed upon.

 

After going into a weather delay that Friday and the Dragons controlling both sides of the line of scrimmage, Coach Ferguson said Tenaha refused to continue when the weather cleared, or even play on Saturday.

 

Tenaha's Tyner has said he will have a comment available on the change later today.

 

The Dragons will have homecoming Sept. 18 against Colmesneil.

 

Teams typically agree to play a home-and-home game per contract for two years.