A circuit judge in Pope County has brought a screeching halt to the start of the 3A football playoffs, which include Mayflower.
In a ruling at the Pope County Courthouse at Russellville on Thursday, circuit judge Gordon McCain suspended the 3A playoffs indefinitely in light of an eligibility controversy involving Lamar High School.
“It really doesn’t affect us about who we’re playing because Lavaca is not in Lamar’s conference,” Mayflower coach Jed Davis said. “So when we play, whenever it is, next Monday or Friday, then we’ll still go to Lavaca. Now, I have a friend that I talked to and some teams bought charter buses like Parkers Chapel. They paid $4,000 for two charter buses to go to Paris and now they can’t use them.”
Davis said the Eagles were prepared for tonight’s game.
“The kids are shocked and mad because they were ready to play on Friday,” Davis said, who notified his player’s about the ruling in a mass text a little after 8:30 p.m. “I’m really not looking forward to going through another week of physical practices. Lavaca runs the veer option, so you have to have physical practices.”
Lance Taylor, executive director of the Arkansas Activities Association, ruled last week that Lamar had used an ineligible player in its five 4-3A Conference victories. Thus, those games were forfeited, knocking Lamar out of the No. 2 seed for its conference in the playoffs and out of the playoffs entirely. Atkins gained a playoff berth in the void left by Lamar.
Tuesday, upon appeal by Lamar, a seven-person subcommittee of the AAA’s board of directors upheld Taylor’s decision. Roy Hester, Lamar’s superintendent, then threatened further legal action, including a court-ordered injunction to delay the start of the playoffs.
Taylor said the controversy arose over a player who transferred from Russellville to his grandparents house in Lamar’s district. Lamar officials contend the player moved into his parents house in the Lamar district. AAA rules prohibit the transfer of a player from one district to another after his junior year unless that is a “bonafide move” by the parents from one district to another or proper forms are filled out for a “hardship waiver.”
Mayflower was scheduled to open the playoffs at Lavaca tonight.
HS Football?
Wow, all this over hs football? If people spent as half as much, of an effort focusing on academics, the state of Arkansas would be no. 1 in the nation.
I just want the facts about news as it happens. I can do without the opinions.
Sports
Well with out Sports, a student will lose the ways of learning team work and being a different family out side there own home. They will not learn how to work together as one and be stuck up and self-fish and not care about others like your self sports are Academics as well. They are counted Academicly in most states.
Yeah, but...
A strong academic background will equip a student with many necessary skills, including (but not limited to) not capitalizing 'sports' and 'academics' for seemingly no reason. They will also bring 'your' and 'self' together, and probably see the folly in 'self-fish.'
Or, to put it bluntly: You clearly are in need of less ESPN, more education.
Incidentally, I have spent considerable amounts of my life invested in academics and sports both. I still fail to see how the lessons of perseverance and teamwork are the exclusive realm of sports alone. Sports people love to hang on to this kind of cliched tripe when they run out of reasonable things to say. Which is often.