MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruled in favor of the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission in a case that has stalled the state high school football playoffs for a week. The Tolsia Rebels are officially in the Class A playoffs beginning this weekend.
All injunctions against West Virginia’s governing body for high school athletics were vacated.
With the ruling, the original ratings points formula will be used to determine the seeds for all four classes in the WVSSAC football playoffs.
A scheduled Class A “play-in” game for Tuesday night between St. Marys and Tolsia at Herbert Hoover was called off at 5:00 with both teams in route.
Respondents in the case from Wood County and Mason County made their final filings to the Supreme Court on Monday morning.
On November 8, the final night of regular season play, Wood County Schools sought an injunction to force the WVSSAC to change its playoff ratings formula. The injunction was granted a day later and new brackets were formed based on the requested adjustment.
The legal action stemmed from a combination of events dating back to the most recent round of realignment among WVSSAC member schools. Last December, final approval came to add a fourth class to five WVSSAC sports, including football. Several schools objected to where they were drawn into, citing a number of issues with the competitive balance formula, and they went through a series of appeals leading up to the month of August.
Class Single A Playoff Schedule
No. 16 Tolsia (6-4) at No. 1 Tug Valley (10-0) at 1:30 in Naugatuck.
The two bitter rivals met on October 4th at Tolsia with the Tug Valley Panthers winning 24-16.
No. 15 East Hardy (4-6) at No. 2 Tucker County (10-0)
No. 14 Madonna (7-3) at No. 3 Wahama (10-0)
No. 13 Valley Wetzel (7-2) at No. 4 Cameron (9-1)
No. 12 Wirt County (7-3) at No. 5 Doddridge County (8-2)
No. 11 Tyler Consolidated (6-4) at No. 6 Sherman (8-2)
No. 10 Meadow Bridge (7-3) at No. 7 Pendleton County (7-3)
No. 9 River View (7-3) at No. 8 Petersburg (5-5)
OUCH !!! Be careful what you wish for.