Cranbrook Schools to forfeit gridiron games
The varsity boys football team at Cranbrook Kingswood has been forced to forfeit three of its games, all victories, this season over a ruling by the Catholic High School League (CHSL) due to failure to file necessary forms on two of its players.
Cranbrook Kingswood is one of 33 private schools throughout southeast Michigan that are part of the CHSL.
The school has been appealing the ruling with the CHSL and with the Michigan High School Athletics Association (MHSAA), which recently announced that it was upholding the ruling of the Catholic league officials, according to an email sent on Saturday, October 24, to the Cranbrook Upper School families from Dr. Jeff Suzik, director of schools, and Keith Levinthal, director of athletics at the private school.
According to the email, “The League’s decision stems from its determination, after the season began, that two student-athletes who played in those first three games were not eligible under a CHSL administrative requirement. Importantly, the MHSAA previously reviewed and approved both students for participation, and they competed in those games under that eligibility determination.”
The email to upper school families also said “that prior to yesterday’s notification, we have vigilantly pursued every available avenue of appeal through both the CHSL and the MHSAA because we will always advocate passionately for our students and seek a fair, reasonable outcome for the team. This has included appeals made to the CHSL Executive Board, the Superintendent of Archdiocesan Catholic Schools of Detroit, and, in person in Lansing with the Executive Director of the MHSAA.
“Throughout each of these appeals, we argued that forfeiting three victories, including contests outside of league play, and preventing two students from participating for the remainder of the season, was a disproportionate response to a clerical matter and involved a vaguely worded League rule, not to mention being inconsistent with the educational, student-centered values that should always guide high school athletics and which do always guide us at Cranbrook.”
While school officials, when contacted by Downtown, said that no other information was being released about the situation with the varsity football team, unconfirmed information from some parents indicated that the ruling involved two transfer students to Cranbrook Kingswood.
The email from school officials also noted that “during this process, Cranbrook has acknowledged a misunderstanding on our part about an arguably unclear CHSL rule requiring us to submit an administrative form to the League ahead of the season, even though the MHSAA deemed the players eligible. We take responsibility for not providing that documentation (not previously required by the CHSL) and will strengthen our internal processes moving forward.”
The forfeiture of the three games included victories by the Cranbrook team over Detroit Mumford (25-22), Loyola (39-0) and Our Lady of the Lakes (64-0).
In the past couple of seasons the varsity football team at Cranbrook, coached by Marcus Green, has experienced a marked improvement over past varsity teams at the school.
Cranbrook Cranes ended their varsity football season on Friday, October 23, with a win of 66-21 against Cabrini.
