Unaka basketball penalized for football forfeit

Football
Football

In an odd twist, Unaka High School has elected not to take the field for its scheduled Class 1A first-round football playoff game at Greenback on Friday. Instead, citing a lack of player participation, Unaka has opted to forfeit that game to the No. 2-ranked Cherokees, who were last year's state runners-up.

The TSSAA released documents Tuesday explaining Unaka's reasoning for forfeiting, where it was noted that most of its players turned in their uniforms following last week's 71-0 loss to Midway. That was the seventh straight loss for the Rangers (1-10), with those defeats coming by an average of 47 points.

"Despite all actions from our coaches and administration, the team members will not play," Unaka principal Betsy Oliver said in a statement sent to the TSSAA. "The coaches tried to talk to them but they were not successful. We had a meeting (on Monday) and the football players signed a statement indicating their intention not to show up for this game."

According to TSSAA bylaws, by forfeiting a playoff football game, the Unaka boys' basketball program will be penalized by being barred from participating in postseason tournaments for the 2016-17 season. That penalty can be appealed by the school at the next Board of Control meeting on Nov. 17.

"If they do not participate in the football playoff, board action is they can't play in basketball," TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress told the Knoxville News-Sentinel. "Years ago, the board put that policy in place because as we would get closer to basketball season, (teams) having a losing record were making decisions that they were not going to participate in playoffs."

The Cherokees (11-0) had just one game decided by fewer than 28 points this season. They will host the winner of Friday's game between Oneida and Oakdale in round two.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.

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