Supreme Court Will Rule On Football Rankings

The Supreme Court of Appeals has been asked to resolve conflicting litigation that is delaying football playoffs across West Virginia. 

The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (SSAC) has filed two petitions for Writ of Prohibition with the state’s highest court in an effort to stop two lower court rulings regarding the high school football playoffs. 

On Friday, Justice William R. Wooton voluntarily disqualified himself from participating in both cases, but did not provide a reason. Chief Justice Tim Armstead filed disclosures of his personal relationships related to the cases, including a nephew who plays football at Braxton County High School, but concluded they had “no basis for his disqualification.”

Football playoffs were originally scheduled to begin Friday night. But the SSAC postponed them after conflicting court orders about team rankings were handed down in Wood and Mason counties.

David Price, executive director of the SSAC, said appealing to the Supreme Court became their only option.

“There are so many competing orders from various courts, and it’s not up to us to determine which court order to follow, so the Supreme Court will have to intervene,” he said.

West Virginia currently has four classes for secondary activities, ranging from Class A to Class AAAA. Price said Class AAAA was an expansion created as part of a pilot program in basketball. It was recently added to most sports as part of a new reclassification system implemented just before the start of the fall athletic season. 

“The principals of West Virginia voted on and supported, matter of fact wanted, and they wanted to expand that to include football, baseball, softball, cheer and volleyball, outside of girls and boys basketball, and that’s exactly what happened,” Price said. 

Price said some schools have been dissatisfied with their reclassification and their ability to compete in the new classes.

“Everything started to domino from that and rulings that were handed to us that we had to implement based on review board rulings, and then they went to court, and it’s brought us to where we are now,” he said.

The petition filed in Wood County Circuit Court by the local Board of Education on Nov. 8 resulted in a court order Nov. 9 requiring the SSAC to seed the playoffs using a methodology from January 2024, before the reclassification. 

The SSAC complied with the order and released new seedings for the playoffs the same day. But on Nov. 11 Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School, which had been eliminated from playoff contention by the new rankings, filed a petition in Mason County Circuit Court. That resulted in an order for the SSAC to delay the Class AAA playoffs so “play-in” games could be held, conflicting with the order out of Wood County.

“The Order presupposes that WVSSAC will incorporate the complete reclassification as required by the Wood County Order which would require the WVSSAC to change the calculation system for the football playoffs after all eleven (11) weeks of regular season play and one (1) week before the scheduled start of the playoffs and therefore eliminating Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School,” the SSAC petition for writ against Mason County reads. 

“Accordingly, it leaves in place the system which it found to be “arbitrary and capricious” and effectively modifies that order, only to reintroduce two (2) of the schools the Wood County Order would exclude. As a result, it leaves in place the arbitrary and capricious effects of the Wood County Order, particularly with respect to any schools participating in a classification other than AAA.”

Price stressed that the SSAC is purely an administrative body that follows and enforces rules created by its member schools. 

“Keep in mind that the rules that are followed are made by the principals of the secondary schools of West Virginia, not by a group of people in Parkersburg,” Price said. “All we do is make sure out of Parkersburg, make sure they’re followed. The principles are the WVSSAC, they are the voting members, and we are the administration.” 

In its filings Thursday, the SSAC also sought expedited relief from the court to try and get teams playing again as soon as possible. Friday afternoon the Supreme Court granted both requests, ordering the respondents in Wood and Mason counties to submit their responses no later than noon on Monday, Nov. 18. 

A separate legal action that has delayed the Class A volleyball playoffs is awaiting a ruling in Hardy County.