Safety concerns resulted in the postponement of the Selma versus Southside basketball game, which was originally scheduled for Friday night.

The game, which usually draws one of the biggest crowds in Dallas County, has been postponed until next Saturday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. at Southside High School. The postponement is related to comments made on social media Thursday night, which resulted in three schools of the Dallas County School System — Southside High School, Tipton Middle School and Southside Primary — being placed under a soft lockdown.

A soft lockdown means that no one is allowed inside the building except for parents checking out their child, according to Dallas County Superintendent of Schools Don Willingham.

“Today, there were absolutely no problems, it was just the panic feeling from the public,” Willingham said. “We felt like there is a concern out there and there was a concern with us too, to the point where it’s best just to put this off a little bit.”

Willingham said the discussion to postpone the game included both school’s principals, Selma basketball coach Woodie Jackson and Southside athletic director Cedric Brown, among others.

“We were just looking at it from the safety side,” Brown said. “We called Selma and we were trying to look at alternate venues to have it today, but we couldn’t find an alternative venue today.”

The schools looked at many options for playing the game Friday. Willingham said they looked at adding security at Southside and playing the game or even moving it to Wallace Community College Selma, but after a short discussion everyone was in agreement that postponing the date of the game was the right choice.

There was also discussion about where next Saturday’s game would be held, with WCCS in the mix, but the college has an event already scheduled for that night.

Moving the game to another venue would have mainly been made to improve parking. WCCS has a well-lit parking lot in front of the school, while Southside’s parking is somewhat limited.

Deciding on the date of the postponed game was the easier part of the decision. Both schools discussed playing the game on Tuesday, Jan. 27, but because of the magnitude of the rivalry both sides wanted to keep it on a weekend.

“It’s a good rival and that’s why we typically play it on Saturday,” Willingham said. “It’s going to draw that kind of crowd that a Tuesday might not draw.”

With the season winding down, next weekend was the only weekend available. The Alabama High School Athletic Association rules dictate that all regular season games must be played before area tournaments get underway.

Most area tournaments are played the weekend of Feb. 5-9, which made Saturday, Jan. 31 the clear option.

Willingham said the only discussion about cancelling the game all together was tied to whether each team could find a way to play the game with their schedules.

The move complicates Selma’s closing schedule a bit. The Saints will now play three games in four days to end their regular season. Selma will play Friday, Jan. 30 at Wilcox Central, Saturday, Jan. 31 at Southside and will host Demopolis Monday Feb. 2.

Jackson isn’t concerned about the amount of games his team will have in a short time frame.

“We’d rather play than practice so, it’ll be okay,” Jackson said. “We’ll be alright.”

Brown said Southside used its automated calling system to try to get word out that the game was postponed.