CHARLESTON – Schools involved in lawsuits over high school football classifications presented their cases in written responses Monday to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Attorneys representing Wood and Mason counties filed responses with the court in two separate cases handled by the West Virginia Commission on Secondary School Activities. Judge William Wooten was replaced by Fayette County Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing after Wooten recused himself from hearing the cases last week.

Attorneys for WVSSAC filed a restraining order last Thursday with the Supreme Court, as well as a motion for expedited relief that the court granted, setting Monday noon deadlines for attorneys for the Wood and Mason county school systems to respond.

Attorneys for Cabell County Schools and attorneys representing a student at Lincoln High School in Harrison County also filed briefs for and against the subpoena, respectively.

Wood County Board of Education attorneys were granted a motion for an injunction granted Nov. 9 by Wood County Circuit Judge JD Beane that struck down a high school football reclassification system put in place at the beginning of the school year by the WVSSAC. , the reintroduction of the previous classification system.

In August, the WVSSAC Board of Control decided to move several schools down the classification, following a decision made by the WVSSAC nearly a year ago to eliminate the three-class system to a four-class system, from A for the smallest schools. to AAAA for the largest schools.

In his response to the WVSSAC’s motion for a writ of prohibition, Patrick McFarland, representing the Wood County Board of Education, argued that the reclassification change and the related point-scoring system used to determine playoff slots and rankings adversely affected Williamstown High School, Parkersburg High School and Parkersburg South High School.

“Hosting home playoff games is crucial to community engagement and school spirit, the student-athlete experience, and losing this opportunity would cause significant financial harm to the school and community through decreased revenue and increased travel expenses.” McFarland wrote. “Financial losses would include the athletic booster organization losing money from lost concession sales, raffles, merchandise sales and other fundraising activities conducted at each home game.”

McFarland argued that the three Wood County schools sought relief by appealing the new classifications through the existing WVSSAC process to no avail, and it was impossible to make changes to their schedules because of contracts already in place. McFarland said the WVSSAC did not follow its own rules for reviewing its new classification system and did not poll member schools about the possible ramifications.

In a separate case filed by Point Pleasant High School and a member of the Point Pleasant football team, Fifth Circuit Judge Anita Ashley issued an order on Nov. 11 ordering play-in games for the football teams in high school that would have been left out of access. playoffs based on the change in standings caused by the Wood County order. They argue that the warrant should be granted and the Wood County ordinance should be overturned.

“When the Big Blacks took the field on August 30, 2024, they, like every other high school team in West Virginia, knew the classification system, as well as the accompanying point system, that was in effect for the season, and as such, they played the entire season knowing what it would take throughout the season to make the playoffs, attorney Tanya Hunt Handley wrote.

“Then on November 9, 2024, after going to bed the night before knowing they would be in the playoffs, the Big Blacks learned that what they had accomplished on the field had been taken away from them by Secondary School Activities in West Virginia. The commission … when it chose to enforce an order entered by the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia, that required the WVSSAC to recalculate the playoff seeding and announced the new playoff teams that no longer included Point Pleasant Junior High Senior High School. Black people,” Handley continued.

The Supreme Court has postponed all high school football playoff games indefinitely pending the outcome of those cases. Saturday’s games between Capitol High School v. Hampshire High School and Point Pleasant v. St. Albans High School, mandated by Ashley’s order, were also canceled.

The Supreme Court is reviewing a similar dispute involving Class A volleyball. While the Class AA, AAA and AAAA playoffs continued, the WVSSAC postponed the Class A playoffs pending a Supreme Court decision after conflicting court rulings of the circuit in cases brought by Tyler Consolidated High School and East Hardy High School regarding reclassifications.

WVSSAC Assistant Executive Director Wayne Ryan said Monday night that the high school football playoffs could resume as soon as this weekend, depending on how soon the Supreme Court issues a decision.

“Once we get the ruling, we’ll make those scheduling decisions,” Ryan said. “We would like to play this weekend if possible.”

Writer Kerry Patrick contributed to this story.