photo by: W.Va. Legislative Photography

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals chamber is seen in Charleston.

CHARLESTON — The schools involved in lawsuits over high school football classifications made 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 dealing with the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission. Justice William Wooten was replaced with Fayette County Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing after Wooten recused himself from hearing the cases last week.

Attorneys for the WVSSAC filed a writ of prohibition last Thursday with the Supreme Court as well as a motion for expedited relief which the court granted, setting deadlines for noon Monday for attorneys for the school systems in Wood and Mason counties to respond.

Attorneys for Cabell County Schools and attorneys representing a student at Lincoln High School in Harrison County also filed friend-of-the-court briefs for and against the writ motion, respectively.

Attorneys for the Wood County Board of Education were granted a motion for an injunction granted on Nov. 9 by Wood County Circuit Judge J.D. Beane that threw out a reclassification system for high school football put in place at the beginning of the school year by the WVSSAC, reinstating the previous classification system.

In August, the WVSSAC Board of Control decided to move multiple schools down in classification following a decision made nearly one year ago to move from a three-class to a four-class system.

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 change in classification and the related point-rating system used to determine playoff brackets and seeding negatively affected Williamstown High School, Parkersburg High School and Parkersburg South High School.

“Hosting home playoff games is crucial for community engagement and school spirit, student athlete experience, and the loss of 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 fund-raising 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 due to contracts already in place. McFarland said the WVSSAC did not follow its own rules for review of its new classification system and did not survey its member schools about possible ramifications.

In a separate case filed by the 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 high school football teams that would have been left out of the playoffs based on the change of classification caused by the Wood County injunction. They argue the writ should be granted and the Wood County injunction should be overturned.

“When the Big Blacks took to the field on Aug. 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 place for the season and, as such, played the entire season with the knowledge of what would be required throughout the season to make the playoffs, wrote attorney Tanya Hunt Handley. “Then, on Nov. 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 the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission…when it chose to implement an order entered by the Circuit Court of Wood County, West Virginia, that required the WVSSAC recalculate the standings for the playoffs, and announced the new playoff teams which no longer included the Point Pleasant Junior Senior High School Big Blacks.”

The Supreme Court postponed all high school football playoff games indefinitely pending the outcome of these cases.

The Supreme Court is considering a similar dispute involving class A volleyball. While playoffs for class AA, AAA, and AAAA proceeded, the WVSSAC postponed the class A playoffs pending a Supreme Court decision after conflicting circuit court rulings in cases brought by Tyler Consolidated High School and East Hardy High School over reclassifications.

WVSSAC Assistant Executive Director Wayne Ryan said Monday evening that the high school football playoffs could continue as soon as this weekend depending on how soon the Supreme Court renders a decision.

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

Kerry Patrick contributed to this story.