Eagles set to begin Class 3A playoffs

By Kevin Black
UCA sportswriting

Mayflower will open the Class 3A state playoffs tonight after a one-week postponement over a dispute regarding the eligibility of a Lamar player.

The Eagles (5-5), third seed from 3A-2, will travel to Lavaca tonight, but coach Jed Davis said the postponement hardly affected their preparation.

“[The postponement] put a wrinkle in our plans. We would have practiced differently last week had we known we weren’t going to play,” Davis said. “But, really it isn’t a huge issue for us.”

The Eagles were lucky to have their third seed, he said, unlike the No. 1 seeds that have first-round byes.

"They are going three weeks without a game,” Davis said. “It wasn’t too bad for us.”

Often teams will charter buses for away playoff games, but Mayflower luckily had not already chartered a bus last week when officials got the news, according to Davis.

“We didn’t lose any money," he said. "Now I know a few schools that lost $3,000 or $4,000 on the deal, so that’s tough on them,” he said.

The Lamar player was declared ineligible by the Arkansas Activities Association because he transferred from Russellville this fall. Lamar officials chose to take the matter to court, and Circuit Judge Gordon McCain ruled in their favor the night before the playoffs were to begin.

“I think they [Lamar] knew they were walking a fine line, and they got called out on it,” Davis said. “I think they’re going to change the rules after this year.”

The AAA's basic eligibility rule on transfers says, “A student whose parents make a bone fide move completely out of one school zone into another school zone may transfer all his/her rights and privileges to the member school that serves the area where the parents reside.”

The Lamar player in question reportedly moved into his grandparent’s house in the Lamar district, which may not be considered a bone fide move by “the parents”, as stated in the eligibility rules. Lamar has contended that the player moved into his parent’s house.

Lamar was originally going to be forced to forfeit the six games that the player in question played in, bumping it from the playoffs and Atkins into the vacancy, but McCain concluded that the Lamar player should have been granted a hardship exception in his move from the Russellville district to Lamar’s.

The Eagles and Golden Arrows kick off at 7:30 p.m. Lamar will play Parkers Chapel.