Judge puts East St. Louis back in playoffs
A downstate judge has given the East St. Louis football team a second chance to participate in the IHSA state playoffs.
How many chances the Flyers actually get to play beyond this wekeend could be another issue.
On Thursday, St. Clair County Associate Judge Richard Aguirre issued a temporary restraining order that put East St. Louis back into the 256-team playoff field. The school had been removed from the playoffs Tuesday after IHSA executive director Marty Hickman ruled it had to forfeit 10 victories from 2009 and five from this season for using an ineligible player.
East St. Louis appealed the ruling to the IHSA Board of Directors on Thursday morning but it was upheld.
East St. Louis then took the matter to court. According to the Belleville News-Democrat, Aguirre made his ruling based on constitutional issues with due process of the law.
“We are disappointed with the judge's ruling,” Hickman said in a news release from the IHSA. “However, the judge indicated that if we provided East St. Louis Senior High School with additional due process, we can make a second ruling on this issue.
“Our intention is to provide that opportunity to East St. Louis Senior High School as soon as possible and issue another ruling at the appropriate juncture.”
The southern quadrant of the Class 7A bracket will return to its original form. Unbeaten East St. Louis is the top seed and will host Belleville West at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After the IHSA's ruling, O'Fallon had improved to 8-1 with a forfeit victory over East St. Louis, had the top seed and was given a first-round bye. Now O'Fallon goes back to the No. 4 seed and hosts Belleville East.
“There is nothing to stop you from assessing the proper sanctions at a later date,” Aguirre said, addressing Hickman, the organization's executive director. “Forfeiture is your call.”
Aguirre said East St. Louis School District 189 did not have enough time to defend the IHSA's charges that ineligible players participated in games.
“We will move on to provide the due process you are requiring,” Hickman said in court.
The issue has centered on the residency of East St. Louis star defensive lineman Charles Tigue, who is the nephew of head coach Darren Sunkett. Tigue had been charged in an armed robbery, to which he has pleaded not guilty, and wore an electronic monitoring device which showed his residence was in Belleville.
The IHSA is also investigating the residency of standout Flyers' running back Anthony Pierson Jr., who was suspended last week.