CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reinstated previous high school football classifications Tuesday, after injunctions caused playoffs to be postponed, while scheduling responses in similar cases involving class A high school volleyball.
In response to the court’s ruling the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC) issued an announcement that the state football playoffs will resume this week.
The state Supreme Court issued an order in two combined cases dealing with the WVSSAC filed in Wood and Mason counties. Justice William Wooten was replaced with Fayette County Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing after Wooten recused himself from hearing the cases last week.
According to the order, the Supreme Court granted the request by the WVSSAC for a writ for prohibition, stating that Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane overstepped his authority when he threw out a reclassification system for high school football put in place at the beginning of the school year by the WVSSAC, reinstating the previous classification system.
“It is beyond question that the WVSSAC had the authority to reclassify under West Virginia Code of State Rules §127-3-10,” the order states. “Upon our review, we find that the circuit court’s entry of injunctive relief was not based on the WVSSAC’s lack of authority to reclassify, but rather on the timing and manner of that reclassification. We have repeatedly held that the manner in which the WVSSAC applies its rules is not subject to judicial review.”
Attorneys for the WVSSAC filed a writ of prohibition last Thursday with the Supreme Court as well as a motion for expedited relief which the court granted, setting deadlines for noon Monday for attorneys for the school systems in Wood and Mason counties to respond.
Attorneys for Cabell County Schools and attorneys representing a student at Lincoln High School in Harrison County also filed friend-of-the-court briefs for and against the writ motion respectively
Attorneys for Wood County Board of Education were granted a motion for an injunction on Nov. 9 by Beane that threw out the high school football reclassification system. Wood County Schools believe that the change in classification and the related point rating system used to determine playoff brackets and seeding negatively affected Williamstown High School, Parkersburg High School, and Parkersburg South High School.
In August, the WVSSAC Board of Control decided to move multiple schools down in classification following a decision made by the WVSSAC nearly one year ago to do away with the three-class system to a four-class system, ranging from A for the smallest schools to AAAA for the largest schools.
Attorneys for Wood County Schools argue that the three Wood County schools sought relief by appealing the new classifications through existing WVSSAC process to no avail, and it was impossible to make changes to their schedules due to contracts already in place. Attorney Patrick McFarland, representing Wood County, said the WVSSAC did not follow its own rules for review of its new classification system and not surveying its member schools about possible ramifications.
In a separate case filed by the Point Pleasant High School and a member of the Point Pleasant football team, Fifth Circuit Judge Anita Ashley issued an order Nov. 11 ordering play-in games for high school football teams that would have been left out of the playoffs based on the change of classification caused by the Wood County injunction. They argue that the writ should be granted and the Wood County injunction should be overturned.
The Supreme Court postponed all high school football playoff games indefinitely pending the outcome of these cases. Saturday games between Capitol High School vs. Hampshire High School and Point Pleasant vs. St. Albans High School mandated by Ashely’s order were also canceled. Again, the Supreme Court ruled that Ashley overstepped her authority.
“With regard to the November 11, 2024, order of the Circuit Court of Mason County, we
observe that the order was issued in direct response to the Circuit Court of Wood County’s improper grant of injunctive relief,” according to the order. “Be that as it may, the Circuit Court of Mason County likewise lacked the authority to interfere with the internal affairs of the WVSSAC and overreached as a matter of law by directing the WVSSAC to schedule play-in games as set forth in its order.”
In a similar dispute involving class A volleyball, the Supreme Court granted motions for expedited relief filed by the WVSSAC Monday as it considers the WVSSAC’s writ of prohibition in regards to cases filed over class A volleyball classifications.
While playoffs for class AA, AAA, and AAAA went forward, the WVSSAC postponed the class A playoffs pending the Supreme Court decision after conflicting circuit court rulings in cases brought Tyler Consolidated High School and East Hardy High School over reclassifications.
The Tyler County Board of Education filed for an injunction on Oct. 1 to move it from class A to class AA. That injunction was granted on Oct. 30. In response, East Hardy High School filed its own injunction asking their circuit court to prohibit Tyler Consolidated High School from participating in the class A volleyball tournament that was originally scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
Attorneys for the WVSSAC sought expedited relief with the Supreme Court and filed writs of prohibition for both Tyler County and Hardy County Monday asking the high court to lift the preliminary injunction preventing the class A volleyball tournament from going on or provide guidance on which lower court order to follow.
“In this matter, the Circuit Court of Tyler County…overstepped its jurisdiction and substituted its own decisions for that of the WVSSAC and its Board of Directors and the West Virginia Department of Education Board of Review on the classification of schools by applying its own judgment and acting in a clearly erroneous manner when it granted the Respondent relief in the form of an injunction classifying Tyler Consolidated as Class A on October 30, 2024, when the Board of Control, Board of Directors, and the Review Board classified it as Class AA,” wrote Stephen Gandee, an attorney for the WVSSAC.
