Okla. Judge Asked to Settle High School Football Dispute

Some high schools take football seriously, but seriously enough to get an actual judge involved?

Oklahoma City's Douglass High School Trojans claim that they would have prevailed over the Locust Grove Pirates were it not for a bad call made one minute before the game's end. After appealing to the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association (OSSAA) for a replay of the game, Douglass asked a judge to review the disputed call, reports CBS Radio.

Is high school football really something state judges should be dealing with?

Injunction Filed Against Winning Team

If you're wondering how this football case even got into a courtroom, you're in good company. After the OSSAA board denied the Trojans the chance for a do-over of the game last Wednesday, the Oklahoma City Public School District (OKCPS) filed an injunction to prevent the OSSAA from proceeding with Locust Grove's next game.

According to Tulsa's KOTV, the injunction sought to either have the Trojans/Locusts game replayed in its entirety or replayed from the final disputed call. Judge Bernard Jones was lucky enough to have to preside over this football squabble, and he is anticipated to come to a ruling by Thursday.

Trojans Already Had Appeal

Both the OSSAA and the OKCPS presented their arguments before Judge Jones on Wednesday, which likely included details about the now-infamous penalty. According to CBS Radio, officials in the Trojans/Locusts game took away a touchdown from the Trojans based on a sideline infraction, with only a little over a minute left in the game.

The OSSAA already punished the officials who made this call, and it stands firm that "the appeals process already has taken place" for the Trojans. Judge Jones has his own doubts about whether the court should even hear the case, as "the schools have a governing body in place that already has ruled twice," reports CBS Radio.

Irreparable Harm

In order to determine whether an injunction is appropriate in this football case, Judge Jones will need to determine, among other things, whether allowing this football snafu to pass will cause the Trojans (or the OKCPS) irreparable harm. This harm doesn't need to be physical, but it needs to be something which cannot be curable by monetary compensation. The hopes and dreams of the 2014-2015 Trojans crushed forever?

Maybe that'll do it.

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Related Resources:

• Can Oklahoma judge settle high school football dispute? (CBS News)
• N.J. Hazing Case: 7 Sayreville H.S. Football Players Arrested (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)
• H.S. Football Player's $300K Brain-Injury Settlement Upheld (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)
• Sayreville Football Hazing Case: Players Charged as Juveniles (FindLaw's Tarnished Twenty)