Hayfield Secondary School made its final call Thursday to overturn a recommended two-year postseason ban in football.
The hearing was held before a three-person subcommittee of the Virginia High School League Executive Committee. Each member of the subcommittee was appointed for this specific case by Billy Haun, executive director of the Virginia High School League.
After hearing from both the league and Hayfield, the subcommittee now has up to five business days to make a decision.
The hearing took place after the league's Sportsmanship Committee earlier this week denied Hayfield's initial appeal to remain eligible to play in the 2024 and 2025 playoffs. The Sportsmanship Committee heard that appeal on Monday.
After the initial appeal was denied, Hayfield had the opportunity to appeal again to a subcommittee. This is the last step Hayfield can take within the Virginia High School League before the playoffs begin.
The league will announce the regional play-off pairings for the first round on Sunday. The late season starts from November 15 to 16.
The Hayfields football team is currently 8-1 and ranked No. 1 in Class 6, Region C in the league's latest Power Point Ratings. Based on regular season results, the ratings determine the top eight teams to qualify for each region's playoffs. Hayfield closes the regular season Friday at John R. Lewis.
In a verified letter circulating on social media, dated Oct. 29, 2024, and addressed to the Virginia High School League's executive committee, Haun explained why the league is seeking to sanction Hayfield's football team.
The League said it believes Hayfield violated the League's Proselytizing Rule, which states: “No school or group of individuals representing the school shall subject a student of another school to undue influence by to encourage people to move from one school to another for League activities.”
In addition, the letter stated that “VHSL staff also notes that the Hayfield administration failed to adhere to the guiding principle of VHSL policy.”
The Guiding Principle states that “League member schools and their individual and team representatives are required to observe and implicitly comply with both the spirit and letter of all League rules and regulations in the interscholastic activities governed by sections 50 through 129 of this handbook and in those activities sponsored by a district or a region. These rules and regulations apply to anyone representing their school in the VHSL, Inc. sponsored interscholastic competition, whether individual or team, whether varsity, junior varsity or reserve.”
The Virginia High School League also said Hayfield's staff failed to uphold the “spirit of all rules and regulations of the League.”
That, in turn, “directly impacted other member schools and student-athletes” in Hayfield, Freedom-Woodbridge and all “student-athletes and communities of VHSL member schools” competing against Hayfield football this season.
Specifically, the league said 15 student-athletes who were on the 2023 Hayfield football roster are either not playing or have transferred to another school and will not be part of the 2024 Hayfield team.
The letter went on to explain the impact on Freedom in Woodbridge.
With a young and inexperienced roster, the Eagles fielded just a varsity team and played just six games this season. The letter stated that only eight players are back from last season's state championship team and that the entire program featured only 50 players, including only two seniors. Of the thirty-six players eligible to return to Freedom for the 2024 season, twenty-eight no longer play for Freedom.
As a result, the letter adds: The students and community of Freedom HS have been harmed.
Questions have swirled around the Hayfield team since it hired former Freedom-Woodbridge football coach Darryl Overton in February. Overton led Freedom to the last two Class 6 state championships.
Haun's letter stated that in early March, the Virginia High School League and Fairfax County “began receiving allegations that Hayfield was recruiting football players from Freedom High School.”
This summer, the Fairfax County school system investigated whether students from Freedom Overton had been followed to Hayfield and did not live in the Hayfield school district.
After a two-month investigation, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid announced in August that the Hayfields football program had been cleared of any wrongdoing related to transfers and eligibility.
But the Virginia High School League, the primary sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the commonwealth, began its own investigation after Fairfax County Public Schools cleared Hayfield.
As a result of that investigation, the league determined that Hayfield administration had not taken action to adequately address transfer student eligibility in April, with the school not following VHSL protocols and district appeals policies, and nine of these ineligible transfer students were included in the list. the Hayfield FY2024 Outdoor Track Master Eligibility List encouraged the number of students transferring to Hayfield to continue.”
The letter then states, “A total of fourteen transfers have occurred from Freedom HS, five from private schools, and five seventh grade students.”
