Williams Field appealing football forfeitures

Gilbert Williams Field will appeal its four football forfeitures at the Arizona Interscholastic Association's next Executive Board meeting on Oct. 20, and, in the meantime, is filing hardships for the two ineligible players.

Michael Fowler, athletic director of the Higley Unified School District, said he doesn't know how long it will take for the AIA to hear the hardship of the two transfers who were ruled ineligible last week.

Williams Field, which won its first five games, plays Tempe McClintock on Thursday night.

"They need the appropriate hardships," Fowler said. "There is a paper appeal and they're in the process of doing that. I don't know how long that will take and if it would be possible that they could play Thursday night.

"They won't play until the AIA approves the hardships."

Late last week, Williams Field reported a violation to the AIA, which, in turn, had the team forfeit the four wins in which the two transfers in question were involved. Williams Field held the two players out in last week's win over Apache Junction.

The first MaxPreps-powered playoff rankings this week did not have Williams Field rated, because only the Apache Junction game counted in the seedings formula. At least two games are required in order to have a rating.

If Williams Field is able to regain those four wins on Oct. 20, then it could change the seedings of several teams in the state. Its first four opponents were given 'no contest' in playoff-points calculations because of Williams Field's forfeits.