High school football kicks off this week for most schools in Louisiana with many games scheduled on Thursday and Saturday nights due to referee shortages. 

Louis Metevia assigns referees for Baton Rouge football games. He says the shortage is a primary impact on the new game day schedule.

"We are spreading out on Thursdays because of the shortage of officials. If everybody tried to play on Friday night, I wouldn't be able to service all of them. This isn't just Baton Rouge, this is all over the state," Metevia said. 

Metevia said 167 men and women are on staff to call games in the area, but it's not enough to put all the games on Friday. LHSAA Assistant Director Lee Sanders says there's an official shortage in every sport and he can only speculate on the reason.

"Sportsmanship, people's attitude towards authority figures. Whether it's an officer of the law, a principal at a local school or someone who's wearing stripes trying to enforce the rules at a football game " Sanders said. 

Sanders says there is currently no plan to cancel any games this season and said they will continue to move games to adjust as needed because they feel high school sports are just too important to cut out.

"They allow our young people to compete on courts fields, and mats all across the state," he said. "With no high school officials, there are no high school sports."