Season ends for Goose Greek following denial of appeal

An appeal by the Goose Creek High School football team to overturn a disqualification ruling was denied on Wednesday in a meeting with the Executive Committee of the South Carolina High School League.  The meeting was held behind closed doors in Columbia.  As a result of the appeal, the Gators’ season comes to an end.  They were slated originally to host Bluffton Friday night in the 4A-Division II playoffs.  At issue is the eligibility of a Goose Creek footballer who transferred into the school from nearby Berkeley High School over the summer.  The student had repeated the 9th grade while at Berkeley.  Goose Creek officials claim the transcript they initially received showed the student still had one year of eligibility remaining, when in fact, he had none.  The mistake was discovered when the player went out for the school’s basketball team.  Goose Creek head coach Chuck Reedy said the student only played about 20 snaps in seven games that were already decided.  According to secondary sources in the vicinity of yesterday’s hearing, Coach Reedy cried hysterically during his testimony, begging the committee for lenience, but in the end they voted 9-2 to deny the appeal.  As a result, Bluffton, down the coast in Beaufort County, will host Conway this week.