UPDATE: Mason County Circuit Judge Anita Ashley issued a ruling late Monday night ordering play-in games this Friday night in the AAA football playoffs matching Point Pleasant vs. St. Albans and Hampshire vs. Capital.
Point Pleasant and Hampshire had made the 16-team field in the original playoff pairings released last Friday night but they were bumped out when the SSAC reworked the rankings following an injunction from a Wood County judge. St. Albans and Capital made the AAA field in the new rankings.
The judge’s order would essentially postpone the first round of the AAA playoffs one week.
Meanwhile, a lawsuit seeking injunctive relief for Westside High School was filed Monday in Wyoming County. Westside, which competes in Class AA, was one of the four teams bumped from the playoffs following last weekend’s changes.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Four days before the high school football playoffs are scheduled to begin statewide, it remains to be seen whether or not that’ll be the case.
Wayne Ryan, Associate Executive Director of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, confirmed Monday night the WVSSAC expects more injunctions to come into play for all or some of the four teams included in the projected playoff field Friday, and excluded Saturday after an injunction was granted in Wood County to set the playoff ratings system to what it looked like before August reclassifications.
“Today was a holiday, so the court systems didn’t work,” Ryan said as a guest on Citynet Statewide Sportsline. “Verbally, we certainly anticipate that there will be some court injunctions filed in the morning and we will deal with those appropriately as always and take care of those injunctions, whether they’re in person or by zoom. We’ll have various injunctions. We don’t know how many there will be for sure. We’ll deal with them as we have to and it may shed more light on the situation.”
As a result of the injunction Saturday to have the playoff rating system reflect how all schools were classified prior to the August reclassifications, four schools lost out on postseason berths — Hampshire, Point Pleasant, Westside and Tolsia.
Hampshire and Point Pleasant were replaced by Capital and St. Albans. Westside’s spot was claimed by Lincoln, while St. Marys joined the Class A field in place of Tolsia.
If, as expected, injunctions are granted for any of the four teams that were among and then excluded from the postseason, the matter would then likely be decided on by West Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals.
“We wouldn’t determine it, because if we did, we would be in contempt of court from one judge or the other, and we can’t do that,” Ryan said. “At that high point, it has to go to a higher court. We would need a higher court to step in and make the decision which rating system we use and as soon as they’d make the ruling, we’d go to work and have our state playoffs.”
Reverting back to the original postseason field would not only lead to the addition of the aforementioned four schools and removal of the other aforementioned four — it would also change a large portion of opening-round matchups.
Thus, it’s entirely realistic teams practicing Monday preparing to face one opponent could return to the field practicing for a different opponent within the next day or two.
“They’d have to make quick plans and that’s why we can’t really say what the timeline would be,” Ryan said. “We’d have to take into consideration the competitive aspect, but also the logistics and arrangements of what can be done, what’s feasible and what’s not, and make the best decision we can once we have a final decision as far as what rating system to use.”
While uncertainty surrounds the postseason in football, that’s also the case in volleyball.
The three-day WVSSAC State Volleyball Tournament begins Tuesday at the Charleston Coliseum in Class AA, Class AAA and Class AAAA.
The Class A state tournament had been scheduled to start first Tuesday, but has been indefinitely suspended pending litigation. Seven of the eight quarterfinal entrants are confirmed. The eighth team, from Region I, remains in dispute.
Tyler Consolidated and St. Marys were scheduled to compete in a “play-in” game in Charleston early Tuesday prior to the quarterfinal rounds.
On October 30, a judge ordered that Tyler Consolidated be placed in Class A for volleyball and cheer after competing in Class AA throughout this season.
The sectional tournament had already finished when the order was received, creating a dilemma for the WVSSAC.
To comply, Tyler Consolidated and St. Marys agreed to play November 2 for a chance to play Trinity in the regional contest. Tyler won that matchup and St. Marys was eliminated at that point.
However, Trinity then filed an injunction in Monongalia County requesting that it should be allowed to play St. Marys instead of Tyler. The judge granted the request, and St. Marys went on to play Trinity in the regional and won.
Two conflicting court orders left Tyler without a place in the regional tournament.
“We’re all disappointed that we’re not having the Class A tournament tomorrow,” Ryan said. “When the whole process plays out, and we know what we’re doing, we’ll do everything we can to have a special Class A tournament as very best we can. We’ll find a location that has a good atmosphere and the amenities needed, but it’s not going to be the same, because you’re not going to have the other classes.
“Several years ago, we had to postpone wrestling three weeks. Sometimes you’re dealt a hand that nobody likes and is not ideal, but all you can do is deal with it, handle it and make what is the secondary solution the very best for kids involved.”