Wayne Hills has been banned from the postseason and will not have the chance to pursue the program's ninth overall state championship, unless the school's challenge is successful
Two days after the Wayne Public Schools District self-reported violations that led to the Wayne Hills High football team being disqualified from the state tournament, the district is now mounting a challenge of the ruling.
Wayne superintendent of schools Mark Toback told NJ Advance Media Wednesday the district is joining legal action being pursued by players on the team and contesting the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s ruling to ban Wayne Hills from the playoffs.
The NJSIAA said Tuesday that Wayne Hills used three ineligible players who transferred to the school without a bona fide change of address and did not sit out the required 30 days of competition. In turn, the team was stripped of its eight victories and disqualified from the postseason.
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Toback said the district received new information Monday about issues that could impact player eligibility on the team, prompting him to bring the findings to the NJSIAA. He said he was "stunned" when the NJSIAA took the information and quickly ruled that Wayne Hills would be disqualified from the playoffs.
"I remain stunned," Toback said. "One minute you’re excited about the opportunity to play in the state playoffs, the next minute it just gets stripped right out from underneath. We are very stunned at the harshness, very stunned at how quickly that happened."
Toback declined to identify what type of legal action the district is joining, saying it's "legal strategy so we wouldn't comment on that." He also did not say what type of new evidence was submitted to the district or where it came from, other than to say it was from a "state agency."
"We as an administration also share in the frustration, the anger, the anguish that our players, our coaches, our parents are feeling, so we are also getting involved in an appeal," Toback added. "We hope to protect the interests of the eligible players. We’re looking to support our eligible players."
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Tuesday night, Vic Hayek confirmed his sons — senior Hunter Hayek, junior Tyler and sophomore Jaaron — are the three players from Wayne Hills declared ineligible, and he maintained the family followed proper transfer protocol and filed the required transfer waiver forms with the state.
Hayek said his family also provided a bona fide change of address when his sons transferred from St. Joseph (Mont.) to Wayne Hills in October of 2015.
Darren Del Sardo, an attorney representing the Hayek family, said he's filed an appeal of the NJSIAA ruling with the State Education Commissioner.
"The NJSIAA has not provided us with any hearing, any appellate review at their level," Del Sardo said. "They haven’t provided us with any reasoning behind their decision, they haven’t even provided us with a written decision. The way in which we found out about this was through a press release.”
NJSIAA attorney Michael W. Herbert said Wednesday the organization had been contacted by attorneys representing Wayne Hills players and that it was prepared for any legal challenges.
"The NJSIAA has had many, many years of various attorneys trying to seek injunctions from both the federal and state courts, as well as the education commissioner," Herbert said. "If they choose to do so we are ready to answer any of those attempts."
Earlier Wednesday, players and parents from Wayne Hills gathered at the high school for a closed door meeting with Toback and other administrators. The group urged the officials to fight for the school and push for a reversal of the NJSIAA's decision.
The message seemed to make an impact on Toback.
"We want to support our eligible players in any way possible and that includes entering into a legal challenge," Toback said.
Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Patrick Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PatLanniHS.