Football forfeits coming against Gray Collegiate? A few schools are considering it

Demetrius Davis had a decision to make.

The Fairfield Central football coach paced the Blythewood High turf Saturday, debating whether his Griffins squad would line up and face Gray Collegiate in the finals of the annual Justin Bethel 7-on-7 tournament.

Fairfield Central went on to play and defeat Gray in the event’s championship game to win the $4,000 first prize awarded by Bethel, the former Blythewood High standout who is now playing for the Miami Dolphins. Gray Collegiate received $1,000 for finishing second in the tournament.

Now comes another decision: Will Fairfield play Gray on Oct. 6 when the two teams are scheduled to meet during the regular season in a Region 4-2A game?

Davis wasn’t so sure.

“As of today, probably no, but we hope something will happen between now and when we are scheduled to play them on Oct. 6,” Davis told The State.

Fairfield Central is one of at least three local high schools that are considering a forfeit in their scheduled 2023 games against region opponent Gray Collegiate. Fairfield, Newberry and Mid-Carolina high schools all have “TBD” listed beside the War Eagles in recently released schedule graphics shared to social media.

It’s the latest notch in the ongoing debate involving fair play and concerns over how some charter schools build their athletic rosters.

If those schools opt to not play the games, Gray Collegiate football coach and athletic director Adam Holmes told The State that they would be violating the region’s constitution and subject to a $5,000 fine. It’s an issue Gray plans to bring before the S.C. High School League’s Executive Committee on Aug. 11.

Davis is holding out hope that the High School League will offer some assurance that their concerns are being addressed.

“If we are making some sort of progress, then my superintendent might give us the green light and do it,” he said of playing Gray. “I am supporting him. He left it up to the coaches and each coach can make their own decision.”

Schools want to ‘send a message’

Fairfield County School District superintendent J.R. Green has been as outspoken as anyone against Gray Collegiate and other charter schools.

Critics say the charters that are sports-focused build powerful teams and have an advantage with what amounts to a statewide attendance zone. And because they cap enrollment, they compete for state championships against the smaller and traditionally rural high schools in Class A and Class 2A.

This school year, 13 of the 16 fall and winter team state championships in Class A and 2A were won by charter or private schools. Teams from Oceanside Collegiate won four more state titles this spring. Oceanside defeated Gray for both the 2A boys soccer and baseball championships.

In the spring, with Green’s approval, Fairfield Central elected to not play Gray Collegiate in softball and in boys and girls soccer games, three days after each team was blown out in games by the War Eagles in those sports. Gray was awarded victories in each instance of a forfeit.

“Some people forfeit because of run of the flu, suspensions, COVID. It is not that uncommon, and it is a little uncommon because of the stand we are doing,” Green told The State in March. “We hope this calls others to think about it, our stand, and maybe they will come to the same conclusion.”

Current state law prevents the SCHSL from treating its charter and private members any differently than traditional public schools. An effort to give the league more power to address competitive balance concerns failed last week in the S.C. General Assembly.

“Obviously, the Legislature isn’t going to look out for us, so we’ve got to put it in our own hands,” Newberry athletic director Chad Cary said. “We don’t know what we are going to do. We might play them. We might not.”

Mid-Carolina is slated to play Gray on Sept. 22, while Newberry is scheduled to play the War Eagles on Oct. 13. Both Newberry and M-C are in same region with Gray for football only. They are in Region 2-2A for other sports.

“Not playing them is the only way to send a message,” Cary said. “The High School League can’t do anything about it. … So it comes up to us. People are going to say, ‘You are putting your kids in a tough spot.’ But you know what? If we would have did this five years ago, our kids this year wouldn’t have had to deal with it this season.“

If the teams don’t play Gray, they would be ineligible to win the region championship but could still qualify for the playoffs.

“We won eight region championships, so we are OK with that,” Davis said.

What’s next?

The issue between traditional public schools and charter and private schools — all members of the S.C. High School League — has been a hot topic in recent years. This year, it spilled into the S.C. Legislature.

On Thursday, S.C. lawmakers removed from the state’s annual budget a proviso — or a one-year law — that was meant to give the SCHSL more power to address and affect competitive balance.

The lawmakers’ decision means that proposal is dead, and it likely means any efforts to address the competitive balance concerns will have to wait until 2024. The SCHSL will be working on its next realignment for 2024-26 starting late this fall. Realignment, which shifts teams up or down in classification based on enrollment changes, should be finalized in early 2024.

The budget amendment was sponsored by state Rep. Russell Ott, D-Calhoun. Senate leadership voted 2-1 against keeping the proviso in the budget. The measure had passed through the S.C. House in May via a 64-46 vote.

“Kudos to Russell Ott for listening to the small schools. Lot of people don’t listen to us,” Davis said. “We were doing it to see if the legislature would listen to us and if there is anything we could do to level the playing ground.”

If no additional measure are done to ensure competitive balance going into the new realignment, both Davis and Cary said Fairfield and Newberry will petition to move to Class 3A.