Update >> Playoff football is back on in West Virginia!
The state's supreme court ruled that Judges in Wood and Mason County overreached their authority by ordering the play in games, and permission has been given granting WVSSAC permission to proceed with the playoffs "according to its rules and authority."
The order vacates the injunctions filed by other counties that believed their schools were unfairly ranked, and puts the playoff bracket makeup back in the hands of the WCSSAC.
In a statement shared with local outlets, the WVSSAC shares that the point system used for the entirety of the season is the one that will be used to determine the playoff bracket.
That means, after injunctions and court decisions decided to replace Point Pleasant HS (AAA), Hampshire HS (AAA), Westside HS (AA), and Tolsia (A), those four programs are back in.
The state football playoffs were set to start last weekend in West Virginia, but legal issues and concerns brought forth by schools have delayed kickoffs across the Mountaineer state.
This story really started to get interesting last week, when a judge granted an injunction late last Monday night that affected the start of the football playoffs.
The request was filed by an attorney for Point Pleasant high school after the school's team was removed from the state playoff bracket over the weekend.
That removal was sparked following a court battle initiated when Wood County Schools filed an injunction that argued a handful of teams were not seeded properly based on a "strength of victory" criteria. That specific criteria designated more points for a win over a higher-ranked conference by a lower-classified school.
However, a total of 23 West Virginia schools were reclassified last summer, which changed their respective point values.
Wood County's injunction was granted by the courts, and the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission was forced to go back and reallocate point totals, based on their original classifications. After that math was done, four schools were bumped out of the playoffs, and four others were moved into the field.
The teams affected were Point Pleasant HS (AAA), Hampshire HS (AAA), Westside HS (AA), and Tolsia (A). Each of those programs were replaced in the playoffs by St. Albans HS (for Point Pleasant), Capital (for Hampshire), Lincoln (for Westside), and St. Marys (for Tolsia).
In one of those cases, a court granted an injunction that attempted the solve the issue, allowing for a play-in game to take place between Tolsia and St. Marys.
Yesterday, two responses were filed in the WVSSAC case with the state Supreme Court, on behalf of Mason and Wood Counties, which joined some additional schools who filed motions just prior to the deadline.
The WVSSAC also filed a writ of prohibition (a judicial order that prevents a lower court from interfering with a higher court's case, or from issuing orders it doesn't have jurisdiction over) with the state's supreme court last week following several legal maneuverings and injunctions by circuit courts across the state.
Those injunctions filed followed a ruling in Wood County over the weekend that called for the WCSSAC to use the rating formula based on classifications prior to the season following complains from schools that teams were unable to change their schedules at the last minute, resulting in ratings points being affected after having to play teams in classifications they were not aware of until it was too late.
Here's the good news: yesterday, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals received final arguments to consider their ruling.
The bad news? No timetable was given on when a decision may come.
In the meantime, coaches, players and programs are left in limbo wondering whether they're in or out of the state playoffs, whether they should practice or not, who they should be preparing for, and a whole lot more. Not to mention, many schools have started practice for winter sports with first games less than a month out.
With the entire playoffs being pushed back (at least) two weeks, issues are bound to pop up with both winter, and likely spring sports as a consequence.
The issue hasn't been contained to just football, as at least one volleyball tournament has also been pushed back as well "pending litigation."
If that was a lot to digest, it's partially because I'm still about six years short of a law degree, so here's a number of local outlets in West Virginia who have a comprehensive run down, including WTOV9, 12WBOY and WCHS.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.