Herbstreit Classic pulls out of Canton

CANTON McKinley High School is looking for a Week 2 football game after learning the Kirk Herbstreit Varsity Football Series will not take place at Fawcett Stadium in 2009.

The Bulldogs were scheduled to play Sept. 5 vs. an out-of-state opponent to be determined later, but McKinley Athletic Director Jeff Lab learned over the weekend the Canton games have been canceled. Organizers are not saying whether games will continued as scheduled in Cincinnati or Irving, Texas.

Lab said Lakewood St. Edward and Youngstown Ursuline also were supposed to take part.

“You can bet I’m going to be on the phone with those two schools,” Lab said. “We just start the mad scramble to find a Week 2 football game.”

According to HighSchoolSports.net, St. Edward already has scheduled Euclid for that weekend.

The Herbstreit Classic has been held at Fawcett in 2007 and 2008 and at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in 2006.

According to Lab, officials connected to the Herbstreit event said there were insufficient sponsors to support having games at two Ohio sites.