LEESVILLE – The news broke at about 2:45 p.m. Friday afternoon.

Leesville's homecoming game against the Northwood Falcons out of Shreveport had been cancelled.

The original notification through Remind and other social media platforms read, "The Leesville High School homecoming game scheduled for Nov. 13, 2020, has been cancelled due to the opposing team's inability to travel. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we are moving our homecoming presentation to next Friday, Nov. 20, 2020."

Leesville principal Mark Mawae further explained the situation through a post on Facebook Live that the news came as a shock to both schools as he confirmed the cancellation.

"We got a call from the Northwood principal and he told me they had some Covid-related issues and, for the safety of his team and ours, wanted to err on the side of caution," Mawae said. "Their football team was about 11 miles out of town and had to go back to the school."

Mawae also addressed the alumni and apologized to the many who were expected to attend as tickets on the home side of Wampus Cat Stadium had been sold out. He also noted the tickets already sold could be exchanged for next week's home game or be refunded.

The Wampus Cats are scheduled to face the Peabody Warhorses next Friday at 7 p.m. in the final regular-season game of the 2020 campaign.

This article originally appeared on Leesville Daily Leader: Leesville game with Northwood cancelled just hours before kickoff