Irmo football wins appeal, remains eligible for SC playoffs. Here’s the latest
Irmo football got a big victory Thursday, one day before its biggest game of the season.
The South Carolina High School League executive committee voted 10-2 to overturn sanctions against the Yellow Jackets’ football program that included game forfeitures and a postseason ban. The case involved the league’s finding that an Irmo athlete was technically ineligible to play.
With the ruling to overturn those sanctions, a $500 fine was lifted, Irmo won’t have to forfeit any games and the Yellow Jackets remain eligible for the postseason.
At the center of the discussion was whether the athlete’s family had fully moved together to an Irmo address. School and district leadership testified that the football player’s parents are currently separated and that he lives in Irmo with the mother.
According to the S.C. High School League, information provided by the family was not sufficient enough to confirm an official separation of the parents.
The executive committee voted that the student in question will remain ineligible until his family can produce court-ordered documents to prove the parents are separated. Among the league’s bylaws regarding making a bona fide change of address, it says that “under no circumstances can a family have two residences for eligibility purposes.”
The athlete, a 10th-grader, transferred from Gray Collegiate to Irmo even though his eighth-grade brother stayed at Gray, according to information presented Thursday. Both the SCHSL and Irmo testified that Gray reported the Yellow Jackets and the player in question to the league in early October. But those initial concerns were resolved quickly with a home visit in Irmo, according to testimony.
The athlete, according to Irmo leadership, was held out of the Yellow Jackets’ most recent game (last Friday against Chapin) when new eligibility concerns were raised — again from information turned into the league by Gray.
Executive committee members spoke favorably of Irmo’s efforts to cooperate quickly with the investigation, provide documentation and to keep the player out of action.
“Irmo High School took immediate action with new information,” SCHSL executive committee member Adam Lanford said. “They did their due diligence to chase that down. Under these circumstances, this is the right judgment.”
Irmo’s case wasn’t on the meeting’s original agenda Wednesday but was added because of the time-sensitive nature and because the regular season ends Friday.
The Yellow Jackets are 9-0 on the season and face city rival Dutch Fork for the region championship on Friday. Win or lose, Irmo is expected to be receive a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Irmo was of two Midlands teams appealing eligibility Thursday regarding football players.
Gray Collegiate was denied 10-2 in its appeal of an ineligible player and announced it will make a final appeal before the appellate panel, likely on Monday. If Gray loses the next appeal, they will not be allowed in the playoffs.
This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 11:27 AM.
