CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — High school football teams in West Virginia will face off in the postseason using a new points system that withstood legal scrutiny from the state’s highest court on Tuesday, although the playoffs will still be delayed one week.
The governing body for interscholastic athletics has the authority to determine its own rules, the state Supreme Court justices said, continuing the court's history of not stepping on the toes of the Secondary School Activities Commission.
The dispute arose because the commission changed the system for who goes to the playoffs, adding a fourth classification in football based on school enrollment. The commission later allowed about two dozen smaller schools to move down a classification, as those schools had concerns they wouldn’t be able to adequately compete in a higher bracket.
The entire process meant a new points system for determining playoff teams based on the four classes.
The Supreme Court justices said Tuesday that a lower court judge erred by reverting to a previous points system and “substituting the WVSSAC’s decision with its own.”
“We have repeatedly held that the manner in which the WVSSAC applies its rules is not subject to judicial review,” the Supreme Court said.
In a statement, the state athletics commission said the start of the playoffs, which were postponed last week, will proceed this week. The commission said it will use the point system that was in place during the regular season to determine the playoff field.
An attorney representing the Wood County Board of Education had argued that the points system prevented schools like Parkersburg South and Parkersburg, which had already qualified for the Class AAAA playoffs, from hosting a playoff game. Attorney Patrick McFarland said a home playoff game “is crucial for community engagement and school spirit,” as well as additional gate receipts, the Parkersburg News and Sentinel reported.
Because of the ruling, a play-in game scheduled between two schools that didn't make the initial playoff field was canceled. That game, ordered by a circuit judge in Mason County, was labeled by the Supreme Court as an “overreach.”
Among the schools that benefited from Tuesday's ruling include Hampshire, a Class AAA team that will make its first playoff appearance in two decades. Hampshire's reward: Traveling across the state to face top-ranked Princeton on Saturday. Also back in the playoffs are Point Pleasant, Tolsia and Westside.
Teams that were removed from the playoffs due to the ruling were Capital, Lincoln, St. Albans and St. Marys.
The rulings come as the Supreme Court also considers an ongoing dispute over the state Class A volleyball tournament. The tournament for other classes was held earlier this month.
In 2010 the court upheld an SSAC decision that ordered South Charleston to forfeit a state semifinal victory for using four suspended football players. In 2008 the court also sided with SSAC rules that automatically impose multi-game suspensions on ejected players in a case involving now-former NBA basketball player O.J. Mayo, an ex-Huntington High standout.