Just hours after District 10 released the football playoff field, Erie High officials informed the D-10 that they are opting out of the District 10 6A championship game.
The Royals were scheduled to play McDowell on Friday at Edinboro University at 7 p.m., as announced in the brackets released at noon on Sunday. The deadline to opt out of the district playoffs was Wednesday.
“Coach [Andre] Henderson notified me this morning that after a lengthy discussion with his coaching staff, they came to the difficult decision to withdraw from the District 10 game,” said director of athletics Dale Mills in a statement to Erie News Now. “The decision was not made lightly by the coaching staff and was due to significant injuries to the team this season. Coach Henderson relayed to me that it was in the best interest of his team and the athlete’s welfare to not play.”
The game will be recorded as a forfeit. McDowell will now move on to host a PIAA subregional game on Nov. 7 against State College.