By Stephen Smoot
Two Fridays ago, Pendleton County was scheduled to host Meadow Bridge in the first round of the state football playoffs.
The next day, the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activities Commission informed fans that the first round opponent would be the Petersburg Vikings.
At this point, however, the playoff picture looks murkier than ever – except for the fact that regardless of what the courts decide, the Wildcats earned the right to host a first round game.
No one will know for sure what the state football playoffs – or Class A volleyball playoffs for that matter – will look like until the West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals holds a special session to address the unfolding disaster.
Instead, football programs must wait for lawyers and judges to sort out controversies over the WVSSAC’s change to how schools are classified from Class A to Class AAAA. Last year, they chose to tweak and expand use of the Class AAAA category from basketball only to several other sports, including football and volleyball.
Now the postseason for both sports, volleyball in Class A and football across the board, remain in a holding pattern.
Last December, the WVSSAC approved expanding its pilot four class structure from basketball to several other sports, including football and volleyball. The board of control overwhelmingly approved the change.
A number of schools disputed their classification. The WVSSAC introduced new elements into the determination of which schools went into what class. Where before, the WVSSAC used only student population numbers, now it created a formula that relied on 80 percent enrollment, 10 percent location, and 10 percent socioeconomic factors.
Judge Carter Williams, during his hearing concerning volleyball tournament seeding last week in Hampshire County, noted that the new formula introduced subjectivity into a formerly objective process, creating what he called “a mess.”
Last August, over a three-day period, the state board of review heard appeals from 22 schools on their classification. It allowed them to move down a class for one season only.
Compared to basketball, volleyball, softball, baseball, cheer, and other sports, football requires a delicate dance between scheduling tougher teams to build points while also playing winnable games.
This introduced significant disruption into the process by which programs set their schedules. The WVSSAC uses a strength of schedule formula, rewarding teams for “playing up.” Schools make strategic decisions in scheduling based on building reasonable paths to the postseason via wins and losses. For example, Pendleton County would receive more credit for playing a Class AA Petersburg than the Class A version.
On the final Friday of the regular season, the Wood County Board of Education filed a petition for an injunction against the WVSSAC rating formula. The WVSSAC fielded requests that the ratings system reflect the points that would have been awarded if the teams had never changed classes.
The Wood County ruling agreed with the board of education that the original seeding “serves to the economic detriment” of each Wood County school because it reduced the chance for them to financially benefit from hosting a home playoff game.
David Price, executive director of the WVSSAC, said on West Virginia Metro News’s Statewide Sportsline that “we had no choice but to implement the rule. Keep in mind, those rules were written by the board of control, the principals of the State of West Virginia, not the WVSSAC executive office. We just follow those.”
The next day, the Wood County Board of Education won their injunction, which caused the WVSSAC to issue new playoff brackets.
This, unfortunately, broadened the ripple effect of the unfolding disaster. Suddenly, Westside, Point Pleasant, Hampshire, and Tolsia, who had earned their way into the playoffs under the former rules, found themselves outside looking in. This is especially difficult for Hampshire, whose football team has not enjoyed much postseason play for many years.
They were replaced by Capital, St. Albans, Lincoln, and St. Marys. Seeding changed as well. When asked on Sportsline about the possibility of further court action, Price answered, “Then we would have competing injunctions. We can’t pick and choose which one we are going to follow. That would be up to a higher court to decide that.”
In a filing against the Wood County case, the WVSSAC counsel argued that “the Wood County Board of Education waited until the 11th hour of the 11th (and final) week of the 2024 football season to challenge the ratings methodology that had been published since week three of the season.” It also stated that Wood County had “failed to establish” that they had “exhausted their administrative remedies.”
In a separate filing, the WVSSAC asked for “expedited relief” in overturning the ruling of Judge John D. Beane.
In another case, Judge Anita Harold Ashley ruled that “play in” games be scheduled between Point Pleasant and St. Albans on one hand and Hampshire and Capital on the other. Ashley called the Wood County ruling “arbitrary and capricious” in ruling to mandate the play in games. The WVSSAC also found this ruling unacceptable, in part because it would cause even more delay to the start of the playoffs.
The West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals, despite the fall term ending last week, will hear the case. One of the Justices, William Wooton, voluntarily recused himself, seeing a conflict of interest. Chief Justice Tim Armstead listed some potential conflicts in a court document, but stated that they did not rise to the level of creating so much conflict that he could not be fair on the issue. He did set November 15 as the deadline date by which those objecting to his participation in the case could make arguments.
On Friday evening, the West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals issued writs of prohibition against the rulings of both Beane and Ashley, preparing the way for a comprehensive ruling for football. Last weekend, the West Virginia State Supreme Court of Appeals provided “expedited relief” in vacating the two previous rulings, making way for a comprehensive ruling that will hopefully come in time to play this coming weekend.
