Downtown- Duval Sports has learned that the #1 ranked team in Duval County Middle School Football the Ribault Colts, will not be allowed to participate in their playoff match against Mayport Middle school today. As the #1 overall seed, Ribault was set to play #4 Mayport Middle to determine who advances to the Duval County Middle School Championship. Ribault or Mayport would then play the winner out of #2 Stilwell Middle versus #3 Mandarin Middle, yet that will not happen.
Instead, #2 Stilwell will receive an automatic placement in the championship, and Mandarin Middle will now face Mayport Middle for the right to take on Stilwell Middle for the championship. The stunning change of events has impacted several teams, players and parents around the area as teams prepare for the county championships.
The Ribault Colts most notably are affected the most. After navigating an undefeated regular season at 8-0, Duval County Public Schools was notified by an anonymous source that Ribault played their entire season with ineligible players. It is alleged that there were at least five ineligible players in question that were listed on the team’s roster, and played in games during the regular season. These players were deemed ineligible due to their ages, and it was also discovered that at least one player might’ve been a student at a different middle school. It was also alleged that player’s birth dates were different on eligibility documents prompting school officials to investigate the matter.
The decision to disqualify Ribault from the playoffs came down this week, and has Ribault parents in an uproar. Parents phoned in to local news stations to voice their concerns, and showed up at Ribault Middle School and the Duval County School Board to contest the decision. One parent who asked to remain anonymous stated, “The entire team should not have to pay because of one or two players. We should still be able to play the games without them”.
A similar situation occurred last year, when Southside Middle School was forced to vacate wins due to an ineligible player. The result of Southside vacating their wins allowed Mandarin Middle to advance to the playoffs to face Highlands as the representative from the South division. Mandarin, Southside and Dupont Middle were stuck in a 3-way tie at the end of the regular season last year. Because Mandarin defeated Dupont in the regular season, they were awarded the playoff spot. This year however, no-one from the North division will take the place of Ribault, creating more controversy and concern specifically from the 7-1 Matthew Gilbert Panther football team.
Gilbert’s only loss during the regular season was to the Ribault Colts. By Ribault vacating their wins during the regular season, the Panthers seemingly should be awarded the playoff spot seeing how their only loss was wiped away by the Ribault sanctions. Duval County Athletic Director Tammie Talley stated “I have not spoken to anyone from Gilbert, but as in many athletic events, the second place team does not advance in place of a disqualified first place team. We saw it in girls basketball with Raines and Sandalwood and we’ve seen it in other situations as well”.
As of right now, the Ribault Colts are out, the Matthew Gilbert Panthers won’t be taking their place, and for the first time in it’s 7 year history, the Duval County Middle School playoffs will commence with just three teams. So Stilwell awaits the winner of Mayport vs Mandarin, and everyone else awaits the answers to even more pressing questions. The most glaring of them is to why all of this had to occur in the first place? As only the kids are the ones who suffer in the end.
