E.E. Smith High School in Fayetteville was scheduled to take on Hope Mills' South View High in the the highly anticipated cross-town rivalry game.
That game is now postponed after a tragic accident killed three members of the E.E. Smith football team.
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The crash happened around 7:22 p.m. Wednesday night on Rosehill Road. Fayetteville police said the car crashed into a telephone pole, continued down a sidewalk and collided with a tree.
Trevor Merrit, Nick Williams and Jai’Hyon Elliot, passengers in the car, died in the crash.
Police said the 21-year-old driver Dymond Monroe struck the power pole. She was airlifted to Chapel Hill with serious injuries and is still in critical condition as of Friday morning.
Monroe's mother, Kenisha Lewis, says Monroe is a mom herself to a 7-month-old. Monroe is also a military veteran who left active duty in Jan. 2025 at her last duty station in Fort Riley, Kansas.
Lewis said Monroe was picking up the trio to take them to her brother's 18th birthday dinner when the crash happened. Lewis said it's common for relatives to pick up players as several of them have known each other since middle school.
The three students killed in the crash played on the Smith football team.
As of Friday morning, the memorial at the site of the crash on Rosehill Road is growing. A steady flow of friends and family keep stopping by to place flowers and grapple with the stunning loss.
School leaders said their top concern is making sure other students and the teens' teammates get the care they need during this time. E.E. Smith was scheduled to during South View's homecoming festivities Friday night, but the game was postponed out of respect for the families and students.
"Our thoughts and prayers remain with their families, loved ones and the entire E.E. Smith Golden Bulls family as they grieve this heartbreaking loss," Cumberland County Schools associate superintendent Lindsay Whitley wrote. "We appreciate the kindness, understanding and support of both school communities during this difficult time. A rescheduled date for the game will be shared once it is determined.
Janiya Bishop, a good friend of Elliot, was struggling to process his death on Thursday. She said they had a "true, genuine bond."
"It makes me sick to my stomach because he was just here yesterday," Bishop said. "He was just here yesterday and we had a whole conversation."
After learning about last night's tragedy, Bishop said she couldn't bring herself to go to school Thursday.
"It's never going to feel the same without him," Bishop said.