North Fort Myers to go without preseason game

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla. — Opportunities to schedule a replacement preseason game existed, but the North Fort Myers Red Knights won’t fill the hole in their schedule that a Deion Sanders-coached team left.

North Fort Myers head football coach Earnest Graham told WINK News on Saturday that he decided to focus instead on getting ready for the regular season opener Aug. 26 at Riverdale.

“I really do value another week of preparation,” Graham said. “We have a very, very young team. We have a lot of sophomore kids, second-year kids that are playing for us.”

Dallas-based Triple A Academy was to visit North for an exhibition Aug. 18, but the team coached by Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer and North grad, pulled out last week because it couldn’t get approval to travel from the Texas high school athletic association.