[10/6/04]Homecoming week is always filled with distractions. Finding an opponent usually isn’t one of them.

Porters Chapel Academy’s homecoming game Friday could be postponed because of an incident last week involving its opponent, Grawood.

The Crusaders’ coach, Eric Clark, pulled his team off the field during a game against Claiborne a violation of Mississippi Private School Association rules that could lead to the suspension of Grawood’s football team. An MPSA investigation of the incident is being conducted, and a final decision will be made Thursday afternoon, PCA headmaster Gwen Reiber said.

All homecoming week activities, including a downtown parade scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday, will proceed as scheduled. If Grawood is not allowed to play the football game, the presentation of the homecoming court will be moved to next week’s home game against Veritas.

“We told the sponsors of our homecoming floats not to write Crusaders’ on anything,” Reiber joked.

Grawood principal Jenneth Merriman was not available for comment. She did, however, send Reiber an e-mail assuring the PCA headmaster that Grawood would play on Friday.

PCA football coach Randy Wright said he also is preparing his team as if the game will be played as scheduled.

“As far as preparing the team, it’s not a distraction,” Wright said. “We’re still getting them ready as if we’ve got a football game to play.”

Reiber and Wright explored several options for finding a replacement opponent, but none panned out. One possible substitute was Class AAA Jackson Academy, an obvious mismatch for Class A PCA. Another was Plain Dealing, which has struggled to a 2-6 record this season and would have had to endure a four-hour bus trip on short notice.

If Grawood is suspended, PCA will take the night off and heal some nagging injuries, Wright said.

The Eagles clinched a playoff berth with last week’s 42-12 win over Sharkey-Issaquena, and can win their first-ever district title by beating Veritas and Tri-County in their last two games.

“Plain Dealing did not want to come, and we’re OK with that. They would have been doing us a favor,” Wright said. “It’ll either be Grawood or nobody, and if it’s nobody maybe it’ll let us get our legs under us and get healthy.”