Stone Ridge Christian in Merced sanctioned for playing in spring club football league
Stone Ridge Christian in Merced is among four schools sanctioned Thursday by the Sac Joaquin Section for their involvement in a club football league this past spring.
As a result, Stone Ridge’s athletic program will be on probation for the 2021-22 school year and will be ineligible to play in the playoffs this year and next. The school’s football program will be on probation for this year through 2024, according to the section.
The other high schools hit with sanctions include Capital Christian in the Sacramento area, Ripon Christian and Vacaville Christian.
The Sac Joaquin Section told schools they were not allowed to play in the spring club football league, which sprang up out of fears school districts would not allow their teams to play amid coronavirus concerns.
“While it is understood that the postponement of interscholastic athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic was frustrating and had an adverse impact on all of our member schools and student athletes, the fact is that the shutdown was a public safety issue”, Commissioner Mike Garrison said in a news release.
“We have approximately 150 member schools, within the CIF-SJS and the vast majority of them held off until given the go-ahead to participate in football. Unfortunately, a few schools after being put on notice by the Section, that participation in football would be a violation of guidance provided by the Governor’s office, the CDPH, and CDE, elected to participate in football contests while wearing school uniforms, using school equipment and school facilities under the supervision of team coaches.
“We expect all of our schools to follow the rules and we have attempted to be as proactive as possible in getting that message out but unfortunately there were a few schools who ignored the rules and my guidance.”
Some in Stone Ridge’s athletics community voiced their disagreement with the sanctions Thursday.
Anthony DeJager, a football coach with the club, tweeted “Commissioner Mike Garrison made up blatant lies about the schools it sanctioned. He got called out on his lies and he doubled down. The truth is that the commissioner has nearly unlimited power when it comes to sanctions. He has a vendetta against small private schools.”
‘This is the last thing we want to do’
Garrison said the section, the second-largest of 10 in the state, is not out to deny kids the chance to play in a tournament but the section is a rules-enforcement agency.
“This is the last thing we we want to do an and we never want to do this,” Garrison told The Bee. “I was hired by our member schools to uphold rules and the regulations and expectations of this section. We are proactive in expressing what those expectations are. We did our best to communicate with these schools our expectations.”
Garrison said the punished programs can appeal, which would be a panel of three former or current members of high school or school district and sports administration. The appeal would take place and have results sometime in the fall, Garrison said.
The Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 6:31 PM with the headline "Stone Ridge Christian in Merced sanctioned for playing in spring club football league."