Prep Football | Archbishop Murphy seniors heard

The seniors on the Archbishop Murphy football team didn't leave the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association office Tuesday with what they wanted most — the opportunity to continue playing. But they did leave with the hope that they helped another team avoid the same fate.

The players met Tuesday with Mike Colbrese, WIAA executive director, who explained to them the state's rules are clear. A team that plays with an ineligible player, even if only because of a clerical error, must forfeit the games in which that player participated.

"His answer was flat out, there is no other route," lineman Sean Connelly said.

The Wildcats had to forfeit eight games and were forced out of the Class 2A state playoffs because a player's physical expired Sept. 8, four days before coach Terry Ennis died of prostate cancer. The WIAA executive board upheld the decision Friday.

Colbrese invited the seniors to the executive board meetings Dec. 2-3. He said the board is considering introducing an amendment allowing for lesser consequences than a forfeit in the case of a clerical error, or if an ineligible player had little impact on a game.

"There's been no real effort from students to have their voice heard, and I think it's important for us and the board to hear the voice," Colbrese said. "There are times when they don't get a chance to hear from students who have been impacted by a rule."

Said Connelly: "We would definitely like to be the face of those amendments. The system is something we know Coach Ennis would have wanted to change."

Bellingham took Archbishop Murphy's spot in the playoffs and beat Mark Morris of Longview 23-13 Tuesday night. The Archbishop Murphy players planned to attend the game in their jerseys.