NIAA, CCSD calls mulligan on Sunset Regional soccer playoffs

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Published Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 1:20 p.m.

Updated Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 2:37 p.m.

The girls soccer teams at Bishop Gorman, Centennial, Durango and Sierra Vista thought their seasons ended last week when they were eliminated from the Sunset Regional tournament.

Now, they could become district champions.

The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association, the governing body of high school sports in Nevada, announced Tuesday that an investigation Monday by the Clark County School District revealed Shadow Ridge used an ineligible player in nine regular season games.

The ruling will force two of the tournament's quarterfinal games to be replayed after Shadow Ridge was moved to the Northwest Division's No. 3 seed, reviving the seasons at Gorman, Centennial, Durango and Sierra Vista.

The student, who officials say is a freshman, started the school year at Arbor View before realizing her home school was Shadow Ridge. The girl had already made Arbor View's team and played in a scrimmage game with the Aggies.

She transferred to Shadow Ridge and joined the team, triggering the violation. Association rules prohibit an athletes for competing for two schools in the same season.

The association, however, only forced Shadow Ridge to forfeit one of the games the girl participated in — a contest where she started. In the other games, she entered late in the contest and did not change the outcome, said Eddie Bonine, the association's executive director.

"She was a non-factor in the other games," Bonine said after consulting a soccer expert.

The tournament, which had its championship game between Arbor View and Shadow Ridge postponed Monday, will continue at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Bettye Wilson Soccer Complex with a pair of quarterfinal games — Arbor View against Durango, and Shadow Ridge against Sierra Vista.

The winner of the Arbor View-Durango game will play Centennial in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday, while the Shadow Ridge-Sierra Vista winner will face Gorman in the other semifinal at the same time. Durango had lost 3-0 to Shadow Ridge in the quarterfinals, while Gorman was defeated 1-0 in the semifinals. Centennial lost to Arbor View in the semifinals.

The Sunset championship game will be at 4 p.m. next Monday and the district championship game between the Sunset champion and Sunrise champion Coronado will be March 11 at 4 p.m. All games are at Bettye Wilson.

Gorman coach Lora Feely said Monday night her team had already packed up its equipment for the season and would need time to practice.

"We are waiting like everyone else," she said. "We haven't practiced in four days. We planned on having our banquet Sunday."

This is the third time this postseason an association tournament has had to be rescheduled. Earlier, Desert Pines' boys basketball team and Eldorado girls basketball team had to forfeit games for using ineligible players, which caused the Sunrise regional boys and girls tournaments to be pushed back a day. The situation at Desert Pines involved an athlete playing in games on days he didn't attend school, which is also a violation

"The bottom line is that this is not an NIAA issue. This is a school district issue," Bonine said. "There is a misconception that I caused these delays. The attendance thing was a debacle involving Clark County rules and regulations."

Ray Brewer can be reached at 990-2662 or ray.brewer@hbcpub.com.