Porters Chapel Academy made official Thursday what it had been speculating about all week – it will not play a football game tonight.

PCA was scheduled to host CM&I tonight. But after repeated attempts to reach coaches at the Jackson school and Mississippi Private Schools Association officials failed, PCA coaches and administrators decided on their own to postpone the game.

“We e-mailed the MPSA and let them know we made every effort to contact CM&I,” PCA coach Randy Wright said. “Obviously, under the circumstances it’s difficult to get a hold of them.”

PCA’s decision was the latest in a long line of cancellations and postponements in wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

On Wednesday, the Mississippi High School Activities Association pushed its football schedule back one week, and most of this week’s regularly scheduled softball games have been postponed.

The MPSA gave its member schools – many of whom are located in relatively unaffected areas of northern Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee – the option of playing or rescheduling for Oct. 28.

That date had been slated for the first round of the playoffs. The postseason will now start on Nov. 4, and any teams that play tonight and happen to qualify for the playoffs will have an open date on Oct. 28.

Most Vicksburg-area schools opted not to play tonight, although Briarfield will still travel to Winnsboro, La., for its game against Franklin Academy.

Newellton, Davidson and the new Madison Parish High School, which are members of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, will also play their regularly scheduled season-openers. Newellton will host Sarepta, while Madison Parish will host Davidson tonight at 7.

On Thursday, Tallulah Academy athletic director Jacky Thames said the Trojans would not host Wilkinson County Christian. While Tallulah was not badly affected by the storm, Woodville was and WCCA could not make the trip.

“WCCA is unable to even meet. They’re all scattered, having communication problems, transportation problems,” Thames said.

While most teams will not be playing games, many did assemble for practices this week. Warren Central and Porters Chapel both had light workouts on Thursday, while Vicksburg High worked out for about an hour on Wednesday and St. Aloysius planned on practicing today.

The practices were less about getting a jump on next week’s preparation and more about staying in a rhythm and getting the players’ minds off the tragedy unfolding across the region.

“Practice, yeah, it’s pretty awkward,” Porters Chapel running back Kenny Simms said. “It helps you keep focused on how things were going and how things are going to be when it calms down.”