On Thursday, August 24th, a picture surfaced on the internet of a few Stafford students posing with signs they made for the upcoming Varsity football game vs. James Monroe at the Maury Stadium. 

On signs they planned on bringing to this Friday’s game, they wrote things such as “F*** JM,” along with other vulgar statements.. but one sign has caused an uproar of outraged students to post their opinions on various social media platforms.

This sign wrote “F*** Glizz”, Glizz being a nickname for the late teen, Jasiah Smith, a James Monroe student and football player who was set to graduate just months after his tragic passing.

Confusion, disgust, and even threats immediately flooded from Instagram story shares and Snapchat reposts across the county. One person reposting and commenting, “[Tighten up before this s**t get real, that’s deeper than football.]” 

The SHS blue wave Instagram account, a student-run account that is not directly associated with school staff of any kind, later released a statement reading, “Dear James Monroe, We do not stand with the disgusting, distasteful things going around the internet. We are deeply sorry for your loss and will continue to support you through this. On behalf of the Blue Wave, we do not support these recent actions. – Blue Wave.” 

-This story is developing and may be updated during the day.

UPDATE: 8/25 2:00PM

Due to the enormous amount of disruption to tonight’s game that these signs have caused, Stafford has made the executive decision to forfeit the opening game of the season against James Monroe High School. At 1:40pm, Principal Allen Hicks sent an email to the student body reading, “We do not believe this matter can be resolved in a way for both teams and community to come together at this time for healthy competition. Therefore, we have forfeited tonight’s football game and it will not be rescheduled.”