(Note: As of Thursday 10/28, East St. Louis is back in the playoffs after the high school appealed to St. Clair County’s 20th Judicial Court later. A temporary restraining order was granted.)
The Illinois High School Association ruled on Tuesday, October 26 that the East St. Louis Flyers football team was found to be in violation of IHSA residency By-Laws. Two Flyer players were ruled inelgible.
The punishment for violation of the residency By-Laws is the forfeit of victories in which the ineligible students participated in. With this case, the Flyers are forced to forfeit all 10 of its wins from the 2009 season, as well as five of their nine wins during this season. This drops the Flyers' season record to 4-5, and therefore not being eligible for the playoffs.
Information was obtained by the IHSA from the St. Clair County State’s Attorney's Office to aid in the investigation. According to the IHSA, evidence from one of the players' "pre-trial electronic monitoring bracelet" traced the residency of this particular player to Belleville, which is outside of the East St. Louis School District.
With East St. Louis out of the playoff picture, the IHSA ruled that a change of games be made in the Class 7A South bracket. Belleville West, which was scheduled to play the Flyers in the first round, will now play crosstown rival Belleville East. East's opponent, O'Fallon, will receive a first-round bye by virtue of playoff points.
“Certainly, the timing of this matter is less than ideal, but as much as some would have liked for us to move faster with this investigation, to do so would have been unfair to both the student-athletes and East St. Louis High School," IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman stated in a press release. "It was imperative for everyone involved that we gave due diligence to the process and uncovered all applicable information before reaching a decision."
There has been interest in the investigation throughout Illinois. East St. Louis, considered one of the elite football programs in Illinois, had marquee out-of-state regular season games with Indianapolis Cathedral, Ind. and Fort Lauderdale Dillard, Fla. Both of these games were won by East St. Louis, and are thus forfeited. Catherdal moves to 7-3 on its football season with one more week left in their regular season. Dillard moves to 5-3 on its football season with two more weeks left in its regular season.
Cody
