The late reporting of an ineligible player by Earle High School has led to a week’s delay in Arkansas’ Class AAA football playoffs, as the school’s forfeited season has thrown off the bracket.
A tweet shared by USA Today suggests that the ineligibility stems from an administrative error and a discrepancy between records kept by Earle and the player’s former high school.
2A Football: Earle
— Collins Peeples (@collins_peeples) December 1, 2017
The player in question transferred to Earle two years ago from Marion. According to Earle, AAA has said that transcripts from Marion now show this is his 9th semester. Earle claims their records show it as his 8th.
I’ll be in Earle tomorrow morning.#ARpreps
With Earle out of the playoffs, Salem High School is back in the semifinals with an extra week to prepare. “Everybody’s excited about the fact that we get to put the pads on right now,” said Salem coach Clay Wiggins.
For Earle, which was 10-1 before reporting the violation, “It’s sad and depressing right now,” said assistant coach Carl Miller. “It was devastating to all of [the players].”
