The South Carolina High School Sports League’s appellate panel voted unanimously to uphold the ruling from the executive committee that the league would not enforce fines for teams that forfeited region contests, specifically against Gray Collegiate Academy.

This Aug. 16 ruling comes after schools like Fairfield Central, Keenan High School and Eau Claire forfeited certain games during the spring sports season after blowout losses to Gray Collegiate. 

Last week, the executive committee for the high school league ruled that it will not be enforcing any fines for the schools that have been rumored to forfeit region football games against Gray Collegiate this season. Gray Collegiate appealed the decision, seeking for the league to enforce fines levied against region foes who more than likely won’t attempt to compete with the school.

The normal fine for forfeiting a region game in Region IV-2A is $250. 

Gray Collegiate head football coach and athletic director Adam Holmes made a strong opening statement to lay out the case for these fines to be enforceable, claiming that he was advised by league commissioner Jerome Singleton to write out specific contracts for each individual game despite there being rules in place for fines to be levied for forfeitures in the region’s constitution.

“We’re in a region, these region teams know they’re supposed to play us and they should show up and play us. And that’s the bottom line,” Holmes said. “For anyone who thinks that’s ok, I could not agree with you any less. Our AD’s have met, they knew about our region constitution, we meet regularly and understand that this has to happen. 

“And that is again, why Dr. Newsome [Gray Collegiate principal] said we do not do region contracts. Because everything in our constitution states what happens when you don’t show up for a game. And that’s what happened in one of our contests two years ago. A team did not show up, we assessed a fine, the principal paid the fine and that’s the way it should be. So I don’t understand how a contract can be upheld as more important than our constitution.”

“I’ve been doing this now for 21 years,” Holmes added. “What message are we sending our kids? That because somebody is good or whatever reason it is or because of the school they are, you’re not going to play them? We’re just going to pack our ball up and go home? Is that what we want to send here from a sports standpoint or from a league standpoint?”

Gray Collegiate Principal Brian Newsome followed Holmes’ opening statement by alluding to public comments made by other superintendents in the region that he deemed were negative and untrue and that commissioner Singleton told him that unsportsmanlike fines or punishments were not enforceable off the field of play. That claim was later vehemently denied by Singleton. 

Newsome also pointed out the potential precedent this ruling could set for other schools and situations within the league.

“That’s the question we’re getting from principals and athletic directors across the state right now,” Newsome said. “Our constitution in our region right now says that we have these mandates, we have these funds and if the appellate panel doesn’t overturn this, a great football program in a traditional school could be going into the last game of the season and a team say, ‘Listen, we’re already second place, there’s no need to play you guys, there’s no fines for it, we just won’t show up. It’s your home game, your senior night, we’re not gonna show up and we’ll take second place and you can have the region.’”

Newsome pointed out that the issue with teams refusing to play Gray Collegiate impacts other sports, too.

“What the league is saying, is that you have to send out contracts for schools and one of the executive committee members said, ‘Well, for basketball and football, we send out contracts,’ but I think tennis, soccer, baseball, softball and all that matters too. But that means B-team, JV, varsity softball, tennis, boys soccer, girls soccer and tennis and everything you play, you have to send it to that coach and school,” the principal argued. 

“I’ll sign a thousand contracts just for this year and there’s no repercussions if they don’t sign. We went ahead after talking to commissioner Singleton in May, we sent contracts to these schools and they didn’t send them back. There’s no repercussions. So I can’t emphasize enough the slippery slope we’re getting into if we don’t allow these contracts to be contractually matched. And that’s what all the athletic directors are telling me, and principals, saying, ‘Listen, we’re a traditional school, but we know some schools in our region who won’t want to play us because we’re not as good as you guys and it’s your senior night, homecoming, we’re just not gonna show up and there’s nothing you can do about it.’”

Debates ensued over Gray Collegiate’s attendance zone and where they are able to draw their athletes from. Newsome and Holmes asserted they pull from Brookland-Cayce and that any athlete from outside that zone has to sit out a year before being eligible if they don’t change their address to be in that attendance zone. 

With the forfeits of region games in spring sports like baseball, softball and soccer, Holmes claimed they missed out on about $2,000 between the loss of entry fees and concessions and having to pay the officials scheduled to work the games. 

The fines levied against Fairfield Central and Keenan were $750 each for three forfeited games, and for Eau Claire, it was $250 because it was only one game. Now, with the appellate panel upholding the ruling, the fines against all three schools are not enforceable.