The class 3A high school football
playoffs are on hold. A judge reversed an earlier decision by the Arkansas Activities Association which forced Lamar High School to forfeit six games. No one is playing as the association figures out the next move.
Lamar lost credit for those games after the triple-a decided a player transferred without proper paperwork. Thursday night one 3A team found out it wasn't playing when teammates got a text from their coach.
"I was getting everything ready, all pumped up to play and all of the sudden, couldn't play, so kind of shocked me," player for Mayflower High, Wesley Varnell said.
Instead of playing football, the senior inside receiver and defensive end is hanging out at his grandparents' hardware store. "We were all kinds of mad, we didn't really know what to do because we have a free Friday night, so we really didn't know what to do," Varnell said.
3A coaches across the state are understandably upset, too. "It's just unfortunate. If you stay around long enough, you see everything, and it's the first time in my 35 years I've seen a game gets cancelled for this," Bauxite coach, John Watson said.
But up in Lamar, it’s just he opposite. "We were very disappointed last week when we had first heard of the ruling, so now we're kind of excited, but we're still waiting to hear the final decision,” Roy Hester said.
"I hope we can move through this as quickly as we can. You know, we really don't like the decision from the court up there and of course we have the option of appealing and doing some other things that we will look in to," Lance Taylor with the Arkansas Activities Association told us.
Wesley Varnell and the rest of the Eagles brought their jerseys to school Friday just in case. The Lamar player's parents tell us they can’t say anything right now because their attorney doesn't want them talking to the media.
