Suburban school forfeits football game at Chicago park

CHICAGO (AP) - A suburban Chicago high school says safety concerns have prompted it to forfeit a football game against a school on Chicago's West Side.

St. Francis High School in Wheaton was scheduled to play Chicago Hope Academy on Friday night. But officials at St. Francis say a recent shooting, along with gunshots reported near Little League games at a local park over the summer, convinced the school to keep its team at home.

Chicago Hope Academy played a game at the park on Sept. 29 against another Chicago school that was interrupted by gunfire. No one was injured.

Hope Academy founder Bob Muzikowski says that was the first violent episode in 13 years of football at the school. He says security would have been robust at Friday's game.