IHSA boots East St. Louis from playoffs

One of the state's most storied high school football programs made history off the field Tuesday.

East St. Louis, which shares the record for most state football titles of any public school with Wheaton Warrenville South, was removed from the IHSA playoffs which begin Friday. The school was forced to forfeit 5 of its 9 victories from this season after an IHSA investigation found it was using an ineligible player.

Since the IHSA started its football playoffs in 1974, it is believed to be the first time a team has been removed after the field was set, according to IHSA executive director Marty Hickman and assistant executive director Scott Johnson.

East St. Louis was also forced to forfeit its 10 wins from last year because senior defensive lineman Charles Tigue, the nephew of head coach Darren Sunkett, was living outside the East St. Louis school district.

“I have little satisfaction in the resolution,” Hickman said in a Tuesday afternoon conference call. “Hopefully the long-term result will be improved administrative measures at East St. Louis and improved compliance with the rules.”

The short-term result is one of the state's top Class 7A title contenders is out because it didn't have the required 5 victories to be in the playoff field as a result of the forfeits. East St. Louis was also in the southern half of the bracket with unbeaten defending 7A champion Wheaton Warrenville South and Glenbard West, last year's 7A runnerup.

“East St. Louis is a great team, but there are a lot of teams playing good football down there,” said WW South coach Ron Muhitch, whose team beat East St. Louis in last year's semifinals. “I've seen O'Fallon and the Bellevilles on tape. There is still a lot of talent in that side of the bracket.

“But it's disappointing that one of the state's best teams won't be playing.”

East St. Louis' removal forced Hickman and the IHSA to ajdust the far south quadrant of the 7A bracket. O'Fallon, which improved to 8-1 with a forfeit win from East St. Louis, is now the top seed and received a first-round bye.

No. 7 Belleville West was supposed to play East St. Louis but will now open at No. 4 Belleville East.

Belleville Althoff was the “257th team” and just missed making the field. But Hickman decided against adding the school to the field because of the significant state-wide logistical issues changing the brackets would have been caused.

“Ultimately we landed on the position the playoff field was set at 256 as of Saturday evening,” Hickman said. “We felt the best scenario, rather than re-adjust several brackets, was the field was set and Althoff was not a qualifier.”

An investigation by the Belleville News-Democrat after East St. Louis' fifth victory raised questions regarding the eligibility of Tigue, who has pleaded not guilty to two armed robbery charges. Tigue was required to wear a court-ordered monitoring device and court documents from the office of the St. Clair County State's Attorney showed he was living in Belleville with his parents.

Hickman said there was some initial difficulty establishing contact with East St. Louis officials in order to launch an investigation.

“That may have set things back a little bit,” Hickman said, “but other things just came to light late last week that really drove this decision to come now rather than prior to the playoff pairings.”

Hickman said he received information from St. Clair County about Tigue's residence last Friday. Hickman said more questions were raised that day at a hearing of an appeal of Tigue's suspension since Week 5, which was denied.

The IHSA also suspended East St. Louis star running back Anthony Pierson Jr., on Friday regarding eligibility questions. Pierson's dad has claimed inducements were made to get his son to transfer from a school in St. Louis.

Hickman said the IHSA is prepared if East St. Louis attempts to fight the decision in court.

“We've had a long history of defending our rules,” Hickman said. “In this particular case we feel we adhered to our procedures and we feel the high school has not adhered to our procedures.

“Hopefully it doesn't come to that but if it does we'll be there to defend our rules.”

East St. Louis' six football titles are fifth-most in state history behind Joliet Catholic (13), Mt. Carmel (10), Providence (9) and now-shuttered Driscoll (8).

East St. Louis won five titles under the legendary Bob Shannon and ended a 17-year title drought in 2008 under Sunkett.

“That's a great program,” Muhitch said of East St. Louis. “Their history in football goes back an awfully long time. I'm disappointed for what's a very talented and well-coached team.”

Daily Herald Sports Writer Kevin Schmit contributed