SCHSL makes timely ruling on forfeits. What it means for Gray Collegiate’s situation
Gray Collegiate Academy will be able to find replacement opponents if teams from its region in Class 2A forfeit games against the War Eagles in football or any other sport during the 2023-24 season.
The S.C. High School League executive committee voted 10-2 Monday in favor of allowing any team facing a region-game forfeiture in any sport to replace it with another opponent — if one could be found — and without penalty. Historically, a team that is awarded a win because of a forfeit cannot play another game in its place.
As many as six Midlands-area high schools could forfeit their scheduled games against Gray Collegiate in football, viewed as their way of taking a take a stand on fair play and competitive balance concerns regarding charter and private schools that are SCHSL members. Those forfeitures could spill over into other sports as well.
Fairfield Central, Newberry, Mid-Carolina and Eau Claire high schools all put “TBD” next to Gray on 2023 football schedules posted to social media. Newberry and Mid-Carolina are in the region for football only.
No decision to forfeit any of those games had been formalized or announced as of Monday afternoon. If region teams forfeit their games against Gray and it can’t find any replacements, the program’s last regular-season game would be Sept. 8 vs. Camden.
Monday’s executive committee meeting was called specifically to address a section of the SCHSL constitution that says, “No school will be forced to compete in any activity of the League, but a school fielding a team shall played the teams required by the region.”
The committee was asked to interpret that clause and whether or not penalties should be considered on either side of a situation involving a forfeit.
And though Gray Collegiate was not mentioned by name before the vote was taken almost two hours after the meeting began, it was implied and alluded to several times that the special Monday meeting was related to the impending showdown in Region 4-2A regarding what amounts to predetermined forfeits.
Several options were discussed Monday, including banning a team from the playoffs if they forfeited a region game without a valid excuse such as sickness or transportation.
Kathy Hipp, an at-large executive committee member from Anderson 3, spoke several times Monday against the idea of preplanned forfeits.
“We are opening a can of worms when we let teams pick and choose who they want to play in the region,” Hipp said. “There needs to be a penalty for not showing up. There needs to be a penalty greater than a loss.”
Teams that forfeit for any reason won’t face any additional consequence, according to Monday’s committee decision — the exception being games with signed contracts that have a forfeiture clause.
“There is a consequence to the decision,” Fairfield County Schools superintendent JR Green said. “We are conceding we cannot be region champs. We are conceding that we are giving up a win.”
The ongoing issues of competitive balance and fair play involving charter and private schools at the 1A and 2A levels were discussed throughout Monday’s meeting. Critics say the charters that are sports-focused build powerful teams and have advantages with how they build their athletic rosters. Those schools also have dominated state championships in recent years in the smaller S.C. classifications.
During the spring season, a total of nine soccer and softball games were canceled after teams from Keenan, Fairfield Central and Eau Claire chose not to play against Gray Collegiate.
Green told The State after Monday’s meeting that he would talk with his coaches and that a formal decision would be made and communicated to Gray as soon as possible on whether Fairfield will play the War Eagles in any fall sports.
“If the coaches are ready to make the decision, obviously we will notify them,” Green said. “Last conversation I had with them was that they were all on the same page. But that’s subject to change.
“We will present them with the information that was said today and be prepared to make our decision.”
What’s next?
There a few initiatives coming that all are expected to address competitive balance in the state. What exactly comes from these efforts is to be determined.
▪ High school athletics ad-hoc committee: State Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, announced in May the creation of a that will hold “listening sessions to hear from the public about the current status of high school sports and how governance can be improved to better meet the needs of students and their families.”
An informational meeting for the committee is scheduled for Wednesday at the State House but was postponed because of Hurricane Idalia. Singleton was listed as one of the speakers, and other school officials from around the state are invited to attend. Other future meetings will follow.
▪ Realignment: This process happens in the state every two years and uses updated enrollment numbers to tweak classifications and address the competitive playing field among schools. This one kicks in for the 2024-25 school year, with a first draft of the plan expected in early December.
▪ Competitive balance subcommittees: A subcommittee is being formed to address the issue, SCHSL executive committee president Jason Warren said Monday, especially as it relates to realignment.
Separately, Gray Collegiate principal Brian Newsome also is forming a committee made up of superintendents, principals and athletic directors to discuss competition concerns. He says they are hoping it leads to legislation that can be voted on by SCHSL members in the spring.
“This is a complex issue and one that is here because of longstanding disparity in Class A and 2A,” SCHSL executive committee member Ray Cooper said. “... Let’s figure this thing out once and for all.”
This story was originally published August 28, 2023 at 5:10 PM.
