The district had reported using an academically ineligible player, leading the Highland Park High School boys soccer team to forfeit its state championship title.
HIGHLAND PARK, Texas — The UIL State Executive Committee Wednesday denied a Highland Park ISD parent’s appeal and upheld the decision that led to the Highland Park High School boys soccer team’s forfeiture of the state championship title in May.
The team had forfeited the title after self-reporting to the UIL the use of an ineligible player during the 5A-Division II title game against Liberty Hill, as well as four other games, the UIL previously stated, leading to Liberty Hill being awarded the 5A Division II championship.
Highland Park ISD Athletic Director Jeremy Gilbert, who’s also a former principal at Highland Park High School, explained during a recent UIL state executive committee hearing on the appeal that any student athlete in the district who receives a grade below 70 in pre-calculus, as was alleged to have happened with a Highland Park player in this case, would be deemed ineligible to compete, per their policy. The minimum penalty for the alleged violation, per UIL, is the forfeiture of the game.
Gilbert said at that time that he was informed the team had potentially played an academically ineligible player on the way back from the state title game, the district’s superintendent was notified, and district officials decided to self-report it to UIL.
The parent who requested to appeal the determination of ineligibility on behalf of her son and the team, though, argued during the hearing that her son shouldn’t have been deemed ineligible because pre-calculus is deemed an honors course, exempt under Texas’ “no pass no play” law.