BREAKING NEWS: A.C. Reynolds Ineligible?

Saw this in The News Herald, thought ya'll might wanna see it yourselves.

By Chris Hobbs
Media General

GREENSBORO - A scheduling snafu could have deadly costs for A.C. Reynolds High School and impact the chase for this year's Northwestern 4-A football playoff berths before practice even starts.

The Rockets' postseason eligibility could hang in the balance as officials from A.C. Reynolds, Swain County and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) meet today in Greensboro.

The meeting is to determine if A.C. Reynolds and Swain County can iron out an agreement, said NCHSAA Deputy Executive Director Dick Knox.

A.C. Reynolds, the Northwestern 4-A champion in each of the past three seasons, scheduled a Sept. 10 nonconference game against T.C. Roberson and a Sept. 17 nonconference game at Swain County.

But the A.C. Reynolds-Swain County contract signed last year had Sept. 10 as this season's playing date, and Swain County scheduled a Sept. 17 game at Watauga.

The mixup leaves the Rockets with just nine games, including Northwestern 4-A games at home against Alexander Central and at East Burke and Freedom.

After reviewing copies of the contract, Knox said the NCHSAA ruled that two of the clauses in the agreement kick in automatically - A.C. Reynolds must forfeit the game and pay Swain County a forfeiture fee.

Playing contracts are standardized, with the participating schools determining the forfeiture cost (in this case $2,500), and they have an additional clause that says the team that breaks the contract won't be eligible for the state playoffs.

"I hope it will be resolved very quickly," Knox said at the East-West All-Star clinic. "We'll meet and see if they can mutually agree on something. If they can't, it will revert to the contract."

Knox said the NCHSAA hasn't had to invoke the no playoffs part of a scheduling contract in the 20 years he's been on staff because the schools involved always reached an agreement.

If A.C. Reynolds and Swain County can't work it out, Knox said the NCHSAA's legal team says the contract terms will prevail.

If the Rockets were not eligible for the playoffs, there would be six Northwestern 4A teams pursuing playoff spots instead of seven.

A.C. Reynolds has dominated the conference in football since joining it four years ago. The Rockets have gone 6-0 in the league for three straight seasons and hadn't been scored on in a conference game until last season.

Only one other school still in the conference (Freedom in 1998 and 1999) has won the football title in the last 11 seasons. Crest, now playing 3-A, won the title for five straight seasons before Freedom won it back-to-back. Crest won in 2000 and A.C. Reynolds has won the last three.

 

Somebody dropped the ball on that one.

 

Absolutely. It would be a waste of a season if Reynolds had an stellar year and had to miss the playoffs on a mistake on the athletics department. Not fair for those kids. But, if it happens, I wonder what kind of impact it will have on the players?

 

at least this gives them time to Move elsewhere and play football for someone new???

 

If this holds true it could hurt the entire AC Reynolds football program. Hope they can get the mess cleaned up.

 

I hate that because I was hoping Freedom would beat them outright this year.

 

And they (Freedom) just may do it. East Burke and McDowell could spring off upsets too, but if they do it, it will not have the same meaning to it.

 

Any more word on this? I saw someone posted that they (ACR) are still to play Swain?

 

ACT maybe has something .....lol

seriously hope they worked it out though

 

This is the latest rumor that I heard today regarding the A.C.Reynolds situation.

Dick Knox was to be in town today or tomorrow(Wed) to resolve the issue from what I've been reading.

I was told by a very reliable source today that A.C.Reynolds was trying to get T.C.Roberson and Owen to rework their schedule, so that the game with Swain County could go on as scheduled Sept 10th.

The word that I got was that Owen was asked to play A.C.Reynolds as an endowment game to begin the season which would mean that the NCHSAA would claim half of the gate between these two bitter closeby rivals?

Owen's principal has a son who plays on the varsity football team for the rockets, and his other son Ben Johnson was the starting QB on last year's rocket team. Anyway, I heard that Kenny Ford didn't have any problem with moving the game, but he wanted A.C.Reynolds to travel to Owen since Owen is accomodating the Rockets?

Sounds like a fair deal to me, but Rocket fans may not like it much. However, the alternative is to be ineligible for the playoffs, so A.C.Reynolds may not have much of a choice but to honor Kenny Ford's wishes?

I guess we'll all know the correct answer to what will happen by thursday!

I hope this gets sorted out because it would be a shame for the Rockets' seniors to be ineligible for this year's playoffs. Also, Swain County has a very fine team this year, and a legitimate shot to beat A.C.Reynolds IMO. Not to mention, all this controversy will likely increase the number of fans who will attend this game, so Swain County will likely make a good chunk of change when and "If" these two mountain powerhouses hook up.