Ironton playoff football disqualification fate looms with OHSAA press release decision coming Saturday morning originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Ironton has done everything it can.
Advertisement
Now the Fighting Tigers await their OHSAA playoff football fate.
Ironton took care of business with a running clock win over Portsmouth on Friday night to close out their regular season with a 9-1 record.
If nothing controversial was going on, Ironton would be lined up to be the No. 1 seed in Division V, Region 19, and have a chance to defend their state championship.
But this isn’t a normal close to the regular season.
Ironton, per multiple reports, is at risk of being disqualified from the OHSAA playoffs due to possible recruiting violations.
The OHSAA is expected to put out a press release Saturday morning with its final decision.
Advertisement
It would be a major moment in the future of high school football in the Buckeye state. Ironton is a public school located in the southeast corner of the state, not far from West Virginia and Kentucky. The Tigers are five-time state champions, including a 2024 crown in Division V.
Football Scoop’s Zach Barnett explained the situation like this:
“The Fighting Tigers’ success has always been followed by accusations of illegal recruiting, and the Ohio High School Athletic Association opened an investigation earlier this season into the eligibility of multiple players who transferred in out of state.”
Ironton football players gathered at the school board office on Friday hoping their board would put up a fight against a potential ruling.
Advertisement
A ruling that disqualifies Ironton from the football playoffs could have wide-ranging consequences.
For one, it will raise questions statewide about whether the OHSAA will change its enforcement of transfer rules and procedures at private schools.
For another, it has an immediate trickle-down effect on the playoffs, which start next week.
The playoff picture, and the future of football in Ironton and across the state, awaits the decision by the OHSAA.
MORE: Marion Local-Coldwater decided by 1 play in historic night for streak
