Brother Martin, De La Salle qualify for playoffs despite forfeits

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald
As it turned out, Brother Martin and De La Salle are beneficiaries of the dual playoff system imposed by principals whose schools are members of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association.

Having to forfeit its first five games, which the Crusaders won, does not eliminate Martin from the playoffs because its playoff Division I has just 12 schools, each of which makes the postseason. But its final regular season record of 3-5 erases an otherwise 8-0 record and drops the Crusaders from the No. 2 seed to No. 11.

The forfeits also give Jesuit, which Martin defeated, 20-14, in triple overtime, the No. 2 seed and its first Catholic League football title since 2011 and 17th since the league was formed in 1955. 

An eligibility issue also affected the playoff position of De La Salle, whose 6-2 record was also voided. Instead, the Division II runner-up in 2017, 2019 and 2020 enters the select schools playoffs with a 1-6 record and the No. 10 seed in a 17-team bracket.

Appeals by the administrators of both schools were denied by the LHSAA 

Had the LHSAA not voted to have separate playoffs for select and non-select schools beginning in 2013, both Brother Martin and De La Salle would have lacked the power points to be included in a singular 32-team playoff bracket. But the split keeps them in the hunt for a division championship, although they will have to defeat higher-seeded teams, who will have home-field advantages throughout the playoff rounds.

Booker T. Washington was not so lucky. A records check discovered that the public had a varsity player whose eligibility fell one grade short in junior high school. Unlike select schools, whose playoff brackets have fewer than the standard 32 teams in each division, non-select (public) schools have more than enough teams to fill each of the five classes. 

Washington, whose record on the field was an impressive 7-1, had it reversed by the LHSAA and dropped in the Class 3A rankings (based on by power points) to No. 34, two spots short of qualifying for the playoffs.

The ninth and 10th weeks of the regular season comprise a period known as “gotcha week” because that’s when eligibility issues historically surface. In most cases, a school’s administrator will notify the LHSAA of an eligibility query about a potential opponent.

But this wasn’t necessarily the case for the two local Catholic schools’ situations. Brother Martin’s principal, Ryan Gallagher (who sits on the LHSAA’s executive committee as the Class 5A representative), and De La Salle president Paul Kelly, reported that the discrepancies were discovered during routine eligibility checks by an LHSAA compliance officer.

The LHSAA handed out forfeits to other local public and charter schools as well. Martin Luther King Charter forfeited three of the five games it won, and McMain and Livingston were also hit with multiple forfeits for violating eligibility requirements.

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