EUCLID, Ohio — Euclid High School hosted "Senior Night" Friday after a week of uncertainty.
Earlier this week, Solon High School announced its team would not travel to Euclid to play the football game because of safety concerns. However, at Friday night's matchup between the Panthers and River Rouge, from Michigan, there were several Euclid police officers as well as security guards.
"I feel pretty safe coming here," Denita Jackson, who was in attendance to watch her granddaughter on the Euclid cheer team, said.
Those at the game entered the stadium through metal detectors and followed safety protocols Euclid has had in place for previous games.
"Middle schoolers always have to be with a parent," Deana Morris explained. "Only our high school kids and the opposing team high school kids are allowed to be here, and they have to have student IDs."
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Morris, a longtime resident in Euclid, has enrolled her children in the school district for years. On this night, hundreds of friends and family of Euclid seniors showed up to support the students, and no major issues were reported.
"I think that sometimes our city gets a bad wrap," Morris said.
Last week, Euclid moved what was supposed to be its homecoming game to Brunswick following what officials called "inappropriate and inexcusable behavior on and off our campus" by a selected number of students. Morris told 3News there were several fights near the high school, but the homecoming dance that Saturday ended up going on as scheduled, and members of the school came together Monday to "reset."
"It was called a 'reset assembly,'" Morris noted. "So they just kind of reset everything for the kids and we're like, 'OK, let's start fresh.'"
After scrambling to find an opponent for their final home game of the season, Euclid lost to River Rouge Friday night, 36-6. Meanwhile, Solon elected not to play this weekend.