Westlake's appeal denied

Appeals committee upholds school system's decision

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

Appeal denied.

A Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association appeals committee Tuesday upheld a decision made by the Charles County Public Schools that the Westlake football program used an ineligible player for four games during the regular season and must forfeit each of those contests.

The Class 3A defending state champion had won two of the forfeited games, so its 8-2 record dropped to 6-4 after the penalty for the infraction was enforced. However, Westlake still remains alive in the playoffs –– at Huntingtown in the 3A South region final at 7 tonight –– because neither its postseason fate nor subsequent regional second seed changed from the forfeits.

MPSSAA Executive Director Ned Sparks disclosed the appeals committee's decision Wednesday afternoon.

"I can't get into specifics, because I don't serve on the committee. I'm not part of any decision," said Sparks, whose role in the appeals process was to present the facts of the case as determined by the CCPS hearing and answer any questions the committee had. "It was closed-door, and I don't think any facts [from the committee members] would be shared [about the appeals decision]."

The panel conducting the CCPS hearing, led by Deputy Superintendent Ronald G. Cunningham, concluded that Westlake unknowingly allowed an ineligible player to participate during weeks 4 through 7 of the regular season from Sept. 25 through Oct. 16.

Westlake head coach Dominic Zaccarelli remains firm in his stance, even after the appeals process, that his team never used an ineligible player.

"I still feel there had not been a date set for ineligibility other than Oct. 23," he said late Wednesday evening. "Due to that, I don't think our county or the appeals committee did come to the right decision. I don't feel due process was done right. I feel that [Prince George's] County schools sent a letter of a complaint with no evidence or no documentation as to any type of verification. I think that's a very dangerous situation and something that needs to be changed and reviewed.

"In our evidence, there was verification of residency in the county [for the ineligible player]. It was not done by me but by the board of ed, not once but a couple times."

However, the Nov. 10 complaint filed with the MPSSAA alleging Westlake's use of an ineligible player proved to have legitimacy, according to the information gathered by the CCPS hearing panel, despite Zaccarelli's argument.

The complaint was filed by Prince George's County athletics supervisor Earl Hawkins.

"Information provided by the mother in October indicates she moved out of the county some time in September," concluded the CCPS panel. "She left her son behind at her previous legal residence in the care of a relative, who is not a legal guardian. Therefore, he is not a legal Charles County resident and ineligible to attend a Charles County public school or participate in Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association-sanctioned events."

Zaccarelli would not confirm the name of the player.

The Westlake coach did say the player is a sophomore and is no longer attending the school.

The player's name is no longer listed on the team's official roster, and Zaccarelli acknowledged having his stats removed from Max Preps.com but said that was not necessarily due to him being ineligible, as the Westlake coach noted that reporting stats on the Web site is a fluid situation with players moving up and down between varsity and junior varsity.

The player competed in the first two weeks of the season as well, according to Sparks, but was not deemed ineligible during that time.

Case not closed

Zaccarelli is not done pleading his side of the ordeal.

There is a higher-level appeal that can be made to state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, and Zaccarelli said Westlake will take that step to exonerate itself of the violation.

If Grasmick grants the appeal, Westlake's case would be heard before a three-member panel of superintendents from across the state.

MPSSAA rules provide 30 days to make that higher-level appeal, meaning it will be a much slower process than the immediacy of Tuesday's procedure before the appeals committee.

"Whether or not they win the appeal really only impacts the yearbook now," Sparks said, eluding that Westlake's playoff hopes are unaffected by the consequences of using the ineligible player. "The urgency isn't there [with no change to the playoffs]."

Zaccarelli said he submitted the player's name and address to Charles County Public Department of Student Services in August 2008 when the player first transferred to Westlake from Friendly High School in Prince George's. The player was still a sophomore this year though he transferred from Friendly before the beginning of the previous school year.

"I submitted his name to student services because of what happened in P.G. County a couple years ago," Zaccarelli said, referring to Friendly's ineligible-player situation that forced forfeiture of four of its games in 2007.

Zaccarelli said the player's address was also verified in February 2009.

But on Oct. 19, the Westlake coach received an anonymous phone call that the player was ineligible. Zaccarelli then turned over an anonymous letter to the public schools Oct. 20. Copies of the letter dated Oct. 13 were sent to the Maryland Independent and the MPSSAA from parents of county public school students, stating the ineligible player's name along with three other players' names. The other three were not proven to be ineligible.

"On Oct. 23, [CCPS] informed me that he was ineligible," Zaccarelli said. "That's the date [of ineligibility] that should've been set from the very beginning. I submitted his name to student services and rely on those people."

Zaccarelli said he never had any suspicions or doubt prior to Oct. 23 about the player being ineligible and was skeptical of the anonymous phone call and letter.

"Truthfully, to be honest, when I received the anonymous phone call and anonymous letter, I submitted both of those thinking everyone of those kids would be cleared," he added. "I was kind of surprised, to be quite frank, because [the ineligible player] had cleared residency check twice."

The CCPS panel also concluded that "the school and the coach took reasonable measures to verify [the ineligible player's] residence, and Charles County Public Schools Department of Student Services was involved in these efforts."

Sparks added, "We rely on the integrity of the school system to do their due diligence. We felt like [CCPS] did an outstanding job. We felt like they looked into the situation and had been looking into it all along."

Initially, there was speculation that the player was involved in five straight games with an ineligible status. Had that been the case, Westlake would have been disqualified from the playoffs because its record would have slipped to 5-5 and changed its regional seeding to third.

"Apparently, the youngster didn't play in one game [where he would have been ineligible] because of disciplinary issues, which was probably a good thing [for Westlake]," Sparks said.

He added about the notion that player ineligibility is a serious epidemic across MPSSAA programs, "I don't think the world is a perfect world, but I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be."

dcogle@somdnews.com