Fayetteville Pine Forest last week became the first team ever to lose two games in the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs in the same year.
Pine Forest lost to neighboring Fayetteville Terry Sanford 49-28 in the first round but advanced when the courts agreed that the NCHSAA's rules requiring Terry Sanford to forfeit its victories for using an ineligible player were applicable.
Given a mulligan, Pine Forest almost pulled off a second-round upset before losing to New Hanover 26-23 in two overtimes.
New Hanover advanced to a third-round game against Lumberton, but the biggest winners in the case were the boys and girls at N.C. High School Athletics Association member schools.
"If our rules are not applicable, then we might as well not have any rules," said Que Tucker, the deputy executive director of the NCHSAA.
The Terry Sanford suit had more twists than a peppermint stick, but from my perspective one of the basic questions was whether school systems can counter NCHSAA rules with special agreements.
Two weeks ago, Terry Sanford officials reported to the NCHSAA that it had used an ineligible football player throughout the season and asked to confirm the penalty. Tucker said the penalty for using an ineligible player - for NCHSAA purposes that means wearing a uniform and participating with the team - was forfeiture of games and a fee.
Later, parents of some Terry Sanford players sought and received an injunction against enforcing the forfeitures. The court granted an injunction, and Terry Sanford was allowed to play in the first round of the playoffs and defeated Pine Forest.
At later hearings, it was revealed that the ineligible player's English grade had been changed from a failing 54 to a passing 78 without the teacher's knowledge. Charlie Adams, the executive director of the NCHSAA, said the student received credit for courses he didn't take.
The student also reportedly had behavioral problems, and the Cumberland County system had made an agreement to have him attend an alternative school.
The agreement said that his disciplinary records at the alternative school would be expunged with improved behavior. One of the items in contention during the court deliberations was whether expunging the disciplinary records meant that his absences from the alternative school would be erased.
With the absences, the student did not meet NCHSAA attendance requirements. Without those absences, the student met the requirement.
Forgetting the grade change or anything else, the question on the state level is whether NCHSAA member schools can make policies that void NCHSAA regulations. Schools agree to abide by NCHSAA rules when they join the NCHSAA, but can the schools make policies that circumvent the NCHSAA rules?
Could a school, for example, establish a policy where absences aren't counted if a student has a 3.0 overall grade-point average or makes an A in the course?
Or could a school agree to give a student passing grades if a student doesn't miss any classes and has no behavioral references?
If schools can do those types of things, and change grades, then the NCHSAA eligibility rules are a sieve.
The Terry Sanford case illuminates how difficult it is to enforce rules.
Children are hurt. Emotions are involved. The innocent are punished with the guilty.
But reason prevailed in the Terry Sanford case, and the boys and girls in North Carolina won. The NCHSAA can make rules that stick.
But that ability seems to grow more perilous each year.
"Without rules, there is chaos," Adams said. "If our rules are not enforceable, there is no need for the association to exist."
