Not that I want to get too much into this, but leagues such as TAPPS and UIL have specific questions on their transfer form asking whether the transfering student would be ineligible at the old school when transfering to the new school. Often that is a "red flag" that the transfer to the new school would be for athletic purposes. I am always concerned when the school I am playing does not have membership or has cancelled its membership in a league. Unless I personally know the school/people, there is always a possibility that there can be issues of eligibility that might not agree with the rules that are standard in Texas high school sports. And the personal liability (and possible career status) of a person who would knowingly schedule a school that has such questions is a risk I personally do not wish to take.

If we're going to continue this discussion, we probably need to walk it over to the private school boards where it belongs.

Sorry Coach Barnard but you are WRONG. The player in question was NOT ineligible for the game we played against your team. The ruling on him did not even take place until the Thursday following our game with you. I DID VOLUNTARILY sit him out of the game that we beat you by four touchdowns in as a precaution against the possibility that he would not win his ruling and we would have a district win taken from us.

The player in question was also never ruled as ineligible for any reason related to a previous school and you can check with TCAF on that. The ruling said that the player transferred to our school for football reasons only. As a school we absolutely disagree with this ruling and as a result decided to pull out of TCAF and play as an independent.

Our team voted in secret ballot unanimously to walk away from the possibility of any awards for district or state play that they might have earned to stand behind a player that we feel came to us honest and has bonded with his teammates and other students at the school. I think that says alot about the character of our team. No trophy or award is worth one of our family members losing out on his opportunity to play.

Today the said player only played one play in our win over Temple. Last week against your team he sat out the entire game. He is a great kid and someone I'm proud to have as a member of my proud squad.


I only came on here to give the correct score of our game without getting attacked by coaches who in reality do not know enough about the situation to even comment.

Our game counts.


God bless you and your team and may you go on to have a great second half of your season.

Coach Ross

http://www.news-journal.com/sports/hs_f ... de08b.html

Longview Trinity 59
Bloomburg 12

YEAH -- A score! Now just Walnut Springs/Iredell (checked Wacotrib.com and no score)

Coach Ross, if you held out the young man voluntarily as a precaution in case the ruling didn't go your way and you didn't want to have to forfeit a game in which he played, why did you, after he was ruled ineligible, then decided to play him after the ruling? What happened to fulfilling an obligation to a league or district? What kind of message does this send? I would say, if you don't like the ruling, by all means you have the right to leave and become independent, but, it probably should have been done when your contract was up with the league. This decision probably shouldn't have been made by the kids either. Just my opinion.

crud, I actually got this score last night....

Walnut Springs;37;Iredell;14

As for the forfeit/65-0 game... I am recording 65-0 in the books here. I am not a governing body. If the game was played, then that's the score until a governing body says something else. This score is the best representation of the teams' abilities.

Let's get this straight. I am not picking sides on this. I do have some definite opinions on this, BUT the bottom line is I am NOT the governing body over these teams... they played and there is a score. I will leave rulings to someone else.

OK, actually 52-22 final

Perfect answer - If they play we have valid data that is much more useful than a 1-0 score.

-- on another note, and PM me if need be, do you find a correlation the actual spread vs the predicted spread? I am looking at two new influences and this is one of them, SOS is the other and that one really has me stumped.

I am the Head of School of Athens Christian Preparatory and have decided to join the discussion regarding our school, for a brief time, in order to hopefully set the record straight. It is doubtful that I will become a “regular” on this site, but am of course concerned about anything of a negative nature that is written about our school.

I can confirm that our Administration, along with the vote of our Board, has opted to withdraw from TCAF due to their recent ruling regarding one of our students, along with a growing dissatisfaction with the league’s ability to be clear regarding rules and regulations. The ruling stated that the TCAF Executive Council found that the player transferred for athletic purposes and is ineligible to play in TCAF as a result.

I personally delivered the argument on behalf of the player in question. Our school remains adamant that this student did not transfer solely for athletic purposes. We found ourselves in a very compromising position between what we knew to be true and another body’s subjective assessment of the situation. There was not a clear rule reference regarding how to define what constitutes a transfer for athletic purposes only. We found ourselves at an impasse.

I am aware that this situation could have the appearance that ACP just didn’t like the outcome and has decided to take our toys and go home. It is a risk we have decided to take because we find ourselves compelled to defend what we know to be true. We have had Coaches suggest to us that we should just “cut the kid loose” and go on as normal. While it is true that it would make life simple, we simply could not bring ourselves to do it.

I shared with the Council that I understand how suspicion could arise about a little private Christian school that suddenly has such a strong team. I get that, but am also saddened by the fact that the people throwing around accusations didn’t even bother to gather information or ask some questions before accusing us of unethical practices.

ACP started as a 9-12 private school in the Fall of 2008. We started with 16 students. This year we have added junior high and our enrollment has jumped to over 80. We attribute this to the fact that we received our state accreditation last spring and added junior high. We are also the only private high school in our area. The next closest private schools are in Tyler. As a new school and the only school of our type in the area…..we naturally get students from the public sector.

We have a unique situation. We did not start with the lower grades as most schools do. We did not wait to start sports until we were more established. We became accredited before most schools do. We are growing in a market where many schools are suffering. We have experienced the Lord’s acceleration in all aspects of our school. We are by all accounts….an oddity.

In reference to the remark about “kids making the decision” I would like to say that they indeed did not, however, we consulted our student body because all of them would be affected. ACP requested that if the Council was to rule against our student, that TCAF allow our football team to play our schedule with them and forfeit every game. Our students were willing to play under such conditions because it was never about the “record” with them….it was about brotherhood. TCAF denied the offer saying that it might be perceived as ACP just defying their ruling. Frankly, in their position, that made sense but it was worth a shot.

When TCAF handed down their ruling they stated that in order to play the student in question, we would have to completely pull out of the league….not just football….which is why we talked to as many students as possible. This was a decision that effected all of our sports. The students were unanimous that we should stand behind our student. Our administration and Board agreed.

I believe that TCAF made their decision based upon the situations they have previously encountered and the types of markets that they operate in. ACP believes that we are a growing school in a unique market and situation and that they (TCAF) could not relate to the defense we gave. The TCAF league is simply “not a fit” for us any longer. There really doesn’t have to be ill will or continued accusations from either side. ACP will remain independent until such time as we make a decision as to another league that we might join. We want to take our time and research the structure of our next choice carefully.

I invite anyone who may have questions to contact me personally at athensprep@yahoo.com I will be more than happy to answer your concerns regarding our school and our athletics. In reading the entries on this site it is apparent that many of you have been drawing conclusions for quite some time without all of the needed facts.

In His Service,
Teresa J. DeMay-Headmistress
Athens Christian Preparatory Academy

Every coach out there that knows me, knows that I am a straight shooter. I want to clarify a few things. With a heavy heart, I have to reply here. I cannot allow lies to be told with our name on it, period. Keep in mind Athens started this thread, not anyone else. At the end you will draw the conclusion that they need to sell themselves because no will play them. Not for fear, but because they cannot be trusted.

Coach Ross, I took you at your word. We have emails and your word that we would play the game Saturday. You told me, not no one else. TCAF had ruled your player as ineligible and that you would have to set out from coaching our game. You said that your team voted that they would not play unless he got to play. You said that you would forfeit the game, period. You went as far as to tell me that we should not sit our players 2 weeks in a roll. No doubt it was a forfeit, period.

Your comment that you played him 1 play vs Temple is a flat out lie. Is everyone tracking with me. We have game film that we can post to Sixman that will show Coach Ross in his lie. Furthermore, there is no doubt that this is about ego & winning, nothing else. If your team voted to play, regardless of forfeit, then why email/call & post the score. Ok, yes you beat our 6 players. Keep in mind that we have higher standards and set out 4 starting players. These players were declared ineligible by our school do to the way we check grades. Our standard is a little higher than TCAF, not to down play TCAF in anyway. You said & I quote " this is a fun game, I am ok if you play your ineligible players". Even after we told you we would not and morally could not.

I am totally disappointed in the lies & know you misled us. I told you that we were playing 5 players that would normally not see the field. Of course, I will not post the game film, but if anyone wants it, we have it. I really don't want to point the player, because I feel for this kid. Athens cannot teach him that there is more to life than football. We all know that. This kid has no chance at going further than Athens and I feel for him.

To also tell you the character of coach Ross. The game is over. We are the visitors. We are in mid field waiting on them. They have to celebrate with fans, etc., not sure how long but it seemed like 30 minutes. Even another coach on their team made reference that they should be in the middle. That is the coach responsibility and it seems that the coach doesn't have a grasp on his team. Even Lady Storm, who started this thread did nothing about it. I gave her time to respond to my email directly to her and nothing. No one has to talk bad about Athens, their leadership/board should really evaluate is it worth it for them. We did appreciate the banana's & water.

My prayer is that no one plays them, not because they think they are good, but to show their leadership the right way. If they voted as a team & really know all the facts, then not playing the rest of the year, would be what they asked for. I am sorry to the student athletes of Athens, I really am. I believe in Jesus Christ and if Coach Ross was to ask me to forgive him, I would. I just have to be on record that the earlier threads are not 100% accurate. This is the truth.

Bloomburg 12....Longview Trinity 59