Two weeks after the 65-50 win against Farmington, a defensive player was reported for being ineligible to play, resulting in a 0-1 loss and an overall record of 0-3. Junior running back Titus Cramer knows the situation is out of their control, but is frustrated with its outcome.
“I mean, obviously it’s annoying, but there’s not really anything we can do about it,” Cramer said.
After being informed about the player’s ineligibility and self-reporting it to AAA, Arkansas Athletic Association, Head Coach Brent Eckley informed the team of the situation on Sept. 13, a week after the football game.
“We just had a player that didn’t get his seat time done. Coach Eckley told us that it was all his fault,” senior linebacker Wyatt Gardisser said. “Like Coach said he should have known that was going to happen, and he should have been looking over that, so he took accountability for the forfeit.”
A couple days after AAA posted about the loss, Eckley also posted on ‘Band’ saying he is taking “full responsibility for the forfeit” due to his role of ensuring that all players on the field are eligible.
Assisting with the process of verifying players’ eligibility is the SIP program which stands for Supplemental Instruction Program. Teacher Kim Oliver oversees the program.
“It is a program by the AAA, Arkansas Athletics Association, for any student athlete who doesn’t have above a 2.0 from the previous semester,” Oliver said. “It gives them their opportunity to still be able to compete.”
While being in this program, there are requirements needed to be met in order to participate in that week’s game.
“They have to attend 100 minutes of study hall time a week, and that started the third week of August,” Oliver said. “I send out a letter to coaches that just says, ‘check all your player’s GPA and if you have students who are below a 2.0, send them to me’, and then I run the study halls every week.”
If athletes don’t complete their study hall time or fail to attend the sessions, they are ineligible to play in that week’s game.
“It looks like a study hall. They have to be working on academics,” Oliver said. “It has to be done outside of the regular school day, so we either have to hold it before school or after school.”
She also sends out an email notifying the coaches every week who is able to play and who isn’t. Executive Director of Athletics Keith Fimple oversees all athletic operations in the district.
“Once this issue was discovered,” Fimple said, “after self-reporting to AAA, we verified the eligibility of all other players and are confident we will not have additional issues moving forward.”
The self-report was sent in by Principal Paul Griep. In his letter to AAA, he mentions some precautionary measures the group will take to ensure qualification.
“We are working to prevent any future occurrences of this nature by conducting a thorough review of our eligibility verification process,” Griep said.
Due to the violation against Rule 12B in the AAA handbook, the football team is placed under a warning through September 19, 2025. However, according to the team, they have decided to try and not dwell on the past but focus their minds on the rest of their season together.
“I feel like we were really good about pushing it behind us and focusing on our next game,” Junior Wide Receiver Austin Sandoval said. “It’s just something that we are trying to keep our minds off.”
The athletes know they might be seen in a “bad light” because of the situation, but they are confident it has already made them stronger as a group.
“I feel like our team morale is still very high,” Gardisser said. “We’re all still like brothers.”