3A football playoffs on hold

Thanks to a ruling by a judge in Pope County, the 3A state high school football playoffs are on hold.

Acting on an injunction request by the Lamar School Distrct, the judge ordered the 3A playoffs to be suspended until the matter could be resolved.

The Arkansas Activities Assocation sent the following email to media and schools around 8 p.m. Thursday.

"Russellville -- Based on the decision of circuit court judge Gordon McCain, the Class 3A state football playoffs, which were scheduled to start on Friday, will be suspended indefinitely. The ruling took place at the Pope County Courthouse on Thursday."

The ruling comes after Lamar was forced to forfiet several games after the AAA determined that they had used an ineligible player.

The news came last Friday, Nov. 6 in a release from the AAA.

The email release was as follows:Lamar High School, which had compiled a 5-1 conference record in Class 3A 4, will have to forfeit all five league wins because of the use of an ineligible player.

Lamar was notified Friday about the forfeitures, and school officials plan to appeal the AAA's decision. The hearing will be held in the AAA office on Tuesday, November, 10th.

Lamar's forfeit wins will go to Mountain View (42-12), Yellville-Summit (25-21), Marshall (53-14), Green Forest (30-14) and Atkins (40-6).

Following a hearing this past Tuesday, the following release was sent to media outlets across the state..

Lamar High School lost its eligibility appeal hearing Tuesday when a sub-committee of the Arkansas Activities Board of Directors voted unanimous to uphold the decision of the executive director Lance Taylor.

Taylor had ruled last week that Lamar, based on information the school supplied, had used an ineligible player in five of its Class 3A 4 Conference games. Before the ruling Lamar was 5-1 in league play and 8-1 overall. With the forfeits, Lamar dropped to 0-6 in league play and 3-6 overall. Lamar held the student-athlete in question out of last week's 52-21 road win over Paris, which makes them 1-6 in league play and 4-6 overall.

Lamar school officials requested that the AAA place the appeal before an independent hearing officer. The date and time for such a hearing was not determined on Tuesday.

Another forfeit

Berryville High School used an ineligible football player during weeks #3, #4 and #5 for the 2009 season. Berryville has forfeited its conference win over Green Forest. The individual also played on conference losses to Shiloh Christian and Huntsville.

Berryville is now 0-9-1. Green Forrest is now 7-2-1

The AAA also reported that Sheridan was forced to forfiet its game with Arkadelphia from earlier this year, but that didn't have any bearing on the playoff picture in 6A-south.

No word on when the decision may be handed down, but for now all 3A football playoffs are on hold.

This also affects the upcoming basketball season, as many of the schools involved rely on the same athletes for both sports. It was also reported that Harrisburg, who were scheduled to host a first round game Friday night, has put all their boy's basketball on hold until the football season is concluded. The Mohawk boy's teams are slated to visit the Hornets Tuesday, Dec. 1.