The cornerstone of any homecoming week in this part of the country, Negaunee has lost its varsity football game at Miners Stadium tonight when Westwood announced late Wednesday afternoon that it wouldn’t be able to field a team this week.

The Patriots were scheduled to make the short trip east to Negaunee for the game at 7 p.m., serving as the culmination of the Miners’ Homecoming festivities.

Both school districts’ online Facebook pages made the announcement around 5 p.m. Wednesday, with the NICE Community School District that Westwood High School is part of making this post:

“I have some disappointing news to announce. Due to injuries and a small number of varsity football players available this season, we will not be fielding a Varsity Football Team this Friday night.

Westwood quarterback Ethan Marta, right, keeps the ball and outruns the Gladstone defense to get into the end zone for a touchdown during their high school football game played at the Patriots’ field in Ishpeming last Friday. The Braves prevailed 59-22. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

“Our sincere apologies to our neighbors over in Negaunee. We know how fleeting and special Friday night football games are in our communities. We take no joy in forfeiting Friday night’s game.

“I personally apologize to your Negaunee Miners Football Team and your fans. I personally apologize to our fans as well.”

“Sincerely, Bryan DeAugustine, Superintendent”

Negaunee added more information about its homecoming activities in its own Facebook post:

“We will still have our powderpuff (football) game (Wednesday night) between our Junior and Senior girls at the football field starting at 7:00, and an announcement about other Homecoming festivities will be made (Thursday).”

The Patriots varsity team was already 0-5 this season, but has been quite competitive in two games — a 46-44 loss to Houghton on Sept. 19 and 52-38 setback to Bark River-Harris on Aug. 28 — and was blown out in two others — 55-6 to Calumet on Sept. 5 and 50-8 to Menominee on Sept. 12.

Last week’s game fell somewhere between, a 59-22 home loss to Gladstone.

By contrast, the Miners are in the thick of the playoff hunt at 3-2, having beaten MHSAA Division 3 Marquette 30-22 on Aug. 28 to go with a 25-2 win over Gladstone on Sept. 5 and 44-0 blanking of Hancock last Friday. Negaunee fell to Calumet 33-18 on Sept. 12 and 35-21 to Kingsford on Sept. 19.

What makes it more unfortunate for the Miners is that tonight’s game was the only home varsity football game sandwiched around three road games.

Now, Negaunee won’t have any home games between its Sept. 19 game it hosted vs. Kingsford and its regular-season closing game at home against Iron Mountain on Oct. 23.

Michigan High School Athletic Association guidelines have indicated that teams receiving a forfeit still get credit for a win, but the forfeit isn’t treated as a win on the field for some of the playoff bonus points criteria.

There were three games involving Upper Peninsula varsity football teams that were forfeited last weekend, and there’s been some others earlier this season, including the Gwinn announcement in mid-August that it wouldn’t be fielding a varsity team at all this fall.

Last Friday, in addition to the Modeltowners, the eight-player team at Carney-Nadeau forfeited to Stephenson, while on Saturday, Forest Park forfeited to Lake Linden-Hubbell.

Next week, Negaunee is scheduled to play at Menominee on Friday night, while there was no word from NICE about whether Westwood would be able to host its game that same night against Kingsford.

Story contents based on Facebook postings in the NICE and Negaunee school districts, and an examination of the MHSAA website at www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.