The attack on America on the morning of Sept. 11 led the Georgia High School Association to make a last-minute decision on Friday afternoon at 12:15 to postpone all games scheduled for the weekend of Sept. 14-15.

GHSA President Ralph Swearngin said in a letter addressed to Georgia schools that, “The impact on the Georgia High School Association is minimal compared to the bigger picture, but there has been an impact nonetheless.”

The GHSA had first announced that it would allow each individual school to make the decision whether to play or not.

Before the GHSA officials had time to change their minds, Columbus Shaw beat Atlanta Carver 31-0 in a game played Thursday night in Columbus, Ga.

But there were no games in northwest Georgia after Ringgold’s game at Murray County and Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe’s game at Southeast Whitfield were postponed.

Many area coaches didn’t find out about the decision until almost 2 p.m. last Friday.

State high school associations throughout the south allowed games to be played in neighboring Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas and North Carolina.

President George W. Bush declared last Friday a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance. The GHSA then followed by postponing the high school football games in the Peach State. Cobb County officials had decided not to play during the day designated for mourning and moved their games to Monday before discovering it was a Jewish holiday.

Some thought the football games would have served as memorial services to remember those who had died, and to honor America by showing patriotism.

Others could not imagine playing football that soon after the death and destruction that had been dealt on the United States.

Ringgold Coach Lamar Brown said he had his own idea on what memorials would have been like if the GHSA had decided to allow the schools to play.

“I think if we had played football it would have been very patriotic, and I think this week’s games will be very patriotic as well,” he said.

Lakeview Fort Oglethorpe football Coach John Allen said he felt the decision to play games only days after deadly terrorist acts had been committed on America was simply too soon.

“I think it was a great decision not to play,” Coach Allen said. “We talked about it and were willing to play. But I didn’t have a good feeling about playing.”

Coach Brown said he would have respected any decision the GHSA made.

“We talked with our kids about adjusting, improvising and preparing for anything to happen, so we weren’t surprised they decided to cancel the games,” the Tigers coach said. “The typical attitude for the whole week was not knowing how to feel or what to feel.”

Coach Allen is married and a new father. He admitted the tragedies in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. made him want to be with his family. He spent his Friday night watching his wife’s cousin, Jim Thurmond, play football for Red Bank in the Lions 23-7 win over Cleveland.

“The events that took place last week really put everything into perspective,” Coach Allen said. “Football is just a game that’s only a small part in life. But family is everything. I wanted to be with my family last week just as much as the boys wanted to be with their family.”

He said he hoped his team was comforted by being allowed to spend a weekend away from football.

“Our boys had a hard time concentrating on anything this past week,” Coach Allen said. “I really felt for the them because I could see the fear in their eyes. We have 17 and 18-year-old boys, and they know that with the President talking about war they could be affected.”

Coach Allen was not the only area coach attending high school football games in Tennessee. Ridgeland’s Jim Starling was at East Ridge’s homecoming win after his Panthers had their homecoming against Rome postponed until Sept. 28 against Northwest Whitfield.

The GHSA will move all games originally scheduled for Sept. 14 to the weekend of Nov. 16-17 and move all playoff games back a week. This will set the weekend of Dec. 22-23 as state championship dates