PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Charles Herbert High School’s Football team’s season has been cut short.
The team has been disqualified and ruled ineligible for the remainder of the playoffs. According to Flowers' Head Football Coach, Dameon Powell, they were told the decision was due to an “alleged violation of an ineligible player”.
At the beginning of each school year, all athletic department heads are required to submit a roster to the school board with the names of the student-athletes participating on the team for that season. This is so they can ensure that each player is upholding the eligibility requirements.
For Prince George’s County Public Schools, students who are 19 years or older as of August 31 are ineligible to participate in interscholastic athletics. The incoming 9th-grade students do not have a GPA requirement for the first quarter. However, all returning students participating on any athletic team must maintain a 2.0 GPA.
According to Powell, the athletic heads that oversee the Flowers Football team submitted all the necessary paperwork before the season began. He says he doesn’t understand why they are just being notified that one of their players is ineligible. He could not give any further comments on the situation beyond that.
Flowers was in the second round of the Maryland state football playoffs with a record of 9-1 and ranked overall third in their region. They were scheduled to play their rivals Eleanor Roosevelt Friday night on their home turf. Instead, they received a call Friday afternoon telling them to stay home because their season was over.
We’ve reached out to the school’s athletic director for more clarification on how something like this happened, but still have not heard back.