The opening of the West Virginia high school football playoffs has been postponed indefinitely until the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission can resolve pending litigation.
This comes after a series of injunctions pertaining to classifications have been filed across the state, beginning with an injunction granted in Wood County Saturday to revert the playoff ratings system to reflect classifications before the WVSSAC allowed 22 schools to drop a class in August.
That injunction was upheld, and four schools were bumped from the playoffs as a result: Hampshire, Point Pleasant, Westside and Tolsia. Capital, St. Albans, Lincoln and St. Marys replaced those schools.
Monday, Mason County Circuit Judge Anita Ashley issued a ruling ordering play-in games this Friday in the Class AAA playoffs, pitting Hampshire against Capital and Point Pleasant versus St. Albans, according to WVMetroNews.
A lawsuit seeking injunctive relief for Westside, Frankfort’s original first-round opponent, was also filed Monday in Wyoming County.
Due to the series of injunctions with differing rulings, the matter will likely now be resolved by the West Virginia’s Supreme Court of Appeals.
“We are extremely disappointed to not be having the playoffs this weekend,” WVSSAC Executive Director David Price said in a statement. “We understand the frustration from all of the parties involved, and we want nothing more than to put the focus back on the student-athletes and their pursuit of a championship.
“However, we must abide by the decisions of the courts and their timeline.”
Four area squads were slated to begin the playoffs this weekend.
Frankfort (10-0), the No. 1 seed in Class AA for the first time in school history, was slated to host Lincoln (3-7) on Friday.
Moorefield (4-6), the No. 15 seed in AA, was scheduled to head to No. 2 Roane County on Friday (10-0), and Class A’s No. 9 seed Petersburg (5-5) was to hit the road to eighth-seeded Pendleton County (7-3) on Friday.
East Hardy (4-6), No. 15 in Class A, was pitted against second-seeded Wahama (10-0) in a Saturday afternoon contest.
Hampshire, meanwhile, is still fighting for a spot in the Class AAA field, which would mark the program’s first playoff appearance in 21 years.
The Trojans (5-5), who were the No. 16 seed in the old ratings system after the regular season, were booted from the playoffs on Saturday in favor of St. Albans (3-7).
Hampshire forges ahead, not knowing if its season is over or not, and, if not, who its next opponent will be.
“I’m hopeful,” Hampshire head coach Donny Evans said Tuesday. “As this gets delayed more and more, it’s important to remember that we’re still dealing with high school students. We’re trying to keep those guys focused. … The guys had good morale today. We did a few lifts, then we let them have some fun, do some Ultimate Football. We’ll hit more tomorrow to keep them focused.”
One of the injunctions had Hampshire and Capital squaring off in a play-in game on Friday, but Evans indicated the game was unlikely to happen.
Even if it was played, the WVSSAC could decide to not count it and award a playoff berth to either team, regardless of the result.
If Hampshire is the No. 16-seed, it’ll probably be at Princeton in round one.
Hampshire lost ground in the point standings after the Wood County injunction because St. Albans picked up strength of schedule points.
The WVSSAC awards strength of schedule points for losing to teams that continue to beat other opponents, and the change Saturday gave St. Albans’ opponents more bonus points, subsequently handing St. Albans the strength of schedule points it needed to enter the 16-team field.
Over the summer, the WVSSAC allowed 22 schools unhappy with their classification in the new four-class system to drop a class, including Frankfort (AAA to AA) and Petersburg (AA to A), in football only.
Some schools argued then that because they made their schedules before the change, they should receive points based on the original classifications.
However, in the WVSSAC playoff ratings released weekly, the state used current classifications for win and bonus points.
The Wood County Board of Education filed an emergency injunction Saturday on the basis that its schools’ opponents were dropped in classification, costing the school ratings points.
The only school in Wood County that was impacted by the ratings change was Parkersburg, which was originally slated to be the No. 16 seed in Class AAAA and play at No. 1 Martinsburg in Round 1, but it is now the No. 13 seed at Jefferson.
The decision also impacted Frankfort. The Falcons were originally slated to host Westside (7-3) in the first round.
Similar to Hampshire, Westside was replaced by Lincoln (3-7) because a team that Lincoln lost to is now credited with a AAA win, giving Lincoln an additional 1.2-point bump.
The most-recent decision also impacted other area schools that gained entry to the WVSSAC playoffs.
Petersburg was projected as the No. 8 seed in Class A, receiving its first home playoff game in school history, to host River View but has a road game instead.
Moorefield dipped from the No. 13 seed in Class AA to No. 15 and is now at unbeaten Roane County.
East Hardy remained at No. 15 in Class A, though its original opponent (Tucker County) was replaced by Wahama — which routed the Cougars, 45-14, in Week 1.
East Hardy only lost to Tucker County, 20-7, two weeks later.
The delay postpones 32 first-round matchups scheduled for this week. The State title was to be played from Dec. 6-7 in Charleston but will now be moved back.
The postseason will begin after litigation has been resolved.