Sad State of Affairs for Pub Football . . .
---
On Oct. 24, 2007, three Public League
football teams were forced to forfeit a total of 13 wins for using ineligible players. Two of those teams, Frankford and West Philly, had
already earned playoff spots. These troubling developments followed by one week the suspension
of FitzSimons' program through 2008 for repeated violations. Look below for Ted's Daily News
story and we welcome comments from players, coaches, fans. Please send to silaryt@phillynews.com . They will be posted below the story. Thank you.
By TED SILARY
silaryt@phillynews.com
If there's a place worse than hell, the
Public League football season now finds itself there.
Two qualifiers, including the loop's
most glamorous program, yesterday were axed from the
playoffs due to the use of ineligible players, while a
third school also was forced to forfeit victories. That
action followed by 1 week the shutdown of Thomas
FitzSimons' program through 2008 for rules violations.
Frankford, winner of the last two
crowns and 27 in all, and assured of claiming one of the
four playoff spots in the Red Division, is out after
confirming that defensive back Taryee Quiah is
over-aged.
West Philadelphia was forced to
relinquish its Blue Division championship, clinched last
Friday in a 31-0 win over Southern, for using two
players, Sean Ricketts and John Davis, who are enrolled
in a private school, Greater Hope Christian Academy, in
Southwest Philly.
Also disciplined was William Penn, a
non-playoff squad in the AAA Division. The Lions were
using two players enrolled at Robert Vaux; those schools
do not have a cooperative agreement.
Information on all three schools'
transgressions was confirmed by Robert Coleman, the
District 12 chairman. They are forfeiting a total of 13
wins overall; five for West and four apiece for the
others.
This is the final week of the regular
season. Blue laurels now will go to Abraham Lincoln.
George Washington, Northeast and Central have locked up
three of the four Red spots. The fourth will go to the
winner of tomorrow night's game involving visiting
Murrell Dobbins Tech and Germantown.
Unless league officials make an
exception, Frankford, assured of placing last in Red,
faces a drop to the White Division for 2008.
The fact that four schools this season
have been guilty of missteps is bad enough. There might
be others.
As he braced himself for his team's
fall earlier this week, West coach John R. Lay said, "If
we're going down, two more schools are going down.
They're using players from private schools, too."
He would not offer specifics. Coleman
said Lay had not conveyed that information to him.
Quiah, who played last season for
Father Judge, attends Franklin Towne Charter. He was
permitted to play for Frankford via a state law allowing
charter students to compete for their neighborhood
schools in sports not offered at their own school.
However, he will turn 20 in January
and thus was 19 before July 1, a violation of PIAA
rules.
Quiah, coach Mike Capriotti said, is
the only non-Frankford student on the Pioneers' roster.
"I was hesitant to take him since he
wasn't in our building," Capriotti said. "But he's a
good kid. Comes to practice every day. There are two
different birthdates on his records. One in 1988,
another in 1989. Apparently, he was born here, but spent
a lot of time in Liberia. I asked him when he came to
practice today. He said it's 1988.
"This is my fault. Not Taryee's. I
slipped up. I take the full blame. I should have caught
this earlier and done the cross-checking. There's no way
I would have done anything like this intentionally."
Capriotti took aside captains Chris
Spence and James Quiles right after speaking with Quiah.
"They were tearing up," he said. "This
is going be rough. We'll have to rally and get ready to
play out the rest of our schedule."
This was Ricketts' second year on West
Philly's squad.
Brad Cashman, the PIAA's executive
director, said in rare instances students from private
schools play sports for public schools. But rules
regarding cooperative sponsorships must be followed and
non-member schools are excluded; Greater Hope is not a
member.
"Why the red flags now?" Lay asked.
"Where were they last year? I didn't think I was doing
anything wrong and nobody [in the administration] said
anything to me when they checked my paperwork. The rules
are ambiguous. I know one thing: John [Davis] didn't do
anything wrong.
"This is very upsetting. We started to
rebuild the program 3 years ago. Now we're the division
champ and we have to give it up. It wasn't like we snuck
by in these games. We won most of them easily."
As the District 12 chairman, Coleman
said he was proud of how the School District handled
these matters.; he also oversees sports for the
district.
"Though this hurts, from everyone
[above him] involved the approach was the same: These
people messed up. We have to nail them," he said. "There
was no dilly-dallying. There are rules. They must be
enforced. If a matter like this comes up in the Catholic
League [now a paper member of PIAA; full membership
begins next school year], we trust they'll do the same."
School District spokesman Fernando
Gallard said his superiors "are very concerned that
these mistakes by adults are hurting our children. We
share the level of being upset that they're feeling.
"We have to make clear to our coaches
and athletic directors that the rules must be
followed, or there will be consequences. These kinds of
things can't be tolerated."
YOUR COMMENTS . . .
As if the pub doesn't
have enough problems. Watching CN8 last Saturday I believe Coleman was on TV telling us what a great job
the Pub officials are doing and how great the Charter Schools are doing.
I am not going to make excuses for anyone in the pub and you know I am
Frankford fan, but Coleman needs to worry about his own league and not
the Catholic league. To tell you truth the pub is worse than your statement "only in the pub". Things this sad start at the top and I mean the
very top. The only request I would have is CN8 doesn't put Coleman on
next year or any of his cronies slinging the same BS. I feel sorry for
the kids and they deserve better from the top up!!!!! Thanks Al F. --- This story really struck a nerve because it's symptomatic of a larger problem we're having with high school athletics. Winning has become more important than sportsmanship, fair play, and teamwork. The idea of charter school kids playing for neighborhood schools is a bad one. Why should these kids have the proverbial cake and eat it too? If West Philadelphia High School is not good enough for these young men, why should they get the privilege of playing on their team? I chose to go to Engineering & Science despite the fact that they did not have a football team. It never crossed my mind that I could go to Gratz to play on their team. Why? Because it is a privilege, not a right, to play high school football. There are opportunities to play football even if your school doesn't have a team. It's called the Mt. Airy Bantams, Olney Eagles, or whatever the local youth organization is. This applies to countless other sports. There are local youth basketball leagues, American Legion baseball, and even tennis has the National Junior Tennis League at the various playgrounds across the city. How can you celebrate a TEAM accomplishment the next school day when so many members of your TEAM attend a different school? On Thanksgiving Day, I don't go to watch Northeast HS and their non-Northeast friends vs. Central HS and their non-Central friends. It's Northeast vs. Central. Period. End of story. The PIAA needs to re-examine this rule ASAP! Also, if a Class AAA school can pick and choose players from other schools, shouldn't their classification reflect the size of the combined enrollment of those schools? FitzSimons clearly belonged in Class AAAA considering they could pull from a larger student body that included not only themselves, but other area schools. -- Bill G. --- This
is james ''jj '' johnson from george washington i heard
about what happen. I really feel sorry for both teams. For the captains and
coaches and all the srs., I really feel bad for frankford because they had a big
opportunity to when the championship hopefully they come back next year. -- JJ --- This sucks! Especially for
West Philly. Although I graduated from Central High, my
Mother attended West Philly and I live in that area. I
was glad to see that they were having a successful
season. And if I am not mistaken there was an article
about one to the players coming from another school that
doesn't have football, which I think is a great idea. He
and their coach had to be under the assumption that it
was ok. As for Frankford, that's a little more difficult regarding the age. But
in any event the West Philly case should be
grandfathered and a system set up that ensures that
everything is done properly or they should drop the rule
that allows players from other schools. -- S.B. --- As I was reading your most
recent story on problems in the public league with
ineligible players, I couldn't help but laugh about
how upset some people are with the Philadelphia
Catholic League (PCL) joining the PIAA. But, the
thing that really got my blood boiling was the
comment by the PIAA director regarding the PCL
joining the PIAA. What was the purpose of that
comment? Why even mention the PCL in his comments? In just the current season, we’ve seen one Pub team suspended through the
2008 season for two violations of the rules. Now,
just a couple of weeks later, we have three more
teams punished for having ineligible players. And,
the best quote that came out of the story was from
one of the coaches who said, ""If we're going down,
two more schools are going down. They're using
players from private schools, too." Huh? This guys
coaches a high school team. Hey coach, read Mike
Capriotti's quotes and take it as a lesson of how
the buck stops with the head coach. Coach Capriotti
didn't blame anyone but himself (even if it wasn't
his fault) and fell on his sword for the benefit of
his kids and his school. Now that's a stand up guy. Yet, people are upset with the PCL joining the PIAA. Some are concerned that the PCL can draw from neighborhoods that are not
the traditional feeder neighborhood, yet I read a
story last season about a kid who travels from one
end of the city to the other to play football
(sorry, I meant to say “to attend a school with
quality academics”). Drive by the Bridge/Pratt
station on the EL on any given school morning and
you’ll see the number of kids with Washington,
Northeast and Lincoln jackets on. Yet, people are upset with the PCL joining the PIAA. A couple of years ago, a PCL football player transferred from one PCL
school to another because his dad alledgedly wasn’t
happy how he was being used on the football team.
I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with the
wins/losses for the two schools in question. The
first school didn’t sign off because it was obvious
that the transfer was for athletic reasons. Some of
my Pub friends mentioned that the transfer shouldn’t
have been allowed. But, when he then transferred to
a Pub school for “academic reasons” (take a minute
to stop laughing) and then was allowed to play,
those same people were suddenly quiet. Yet, some people are upset with the PCL joining the PIAA. A kid playing basketball for a Pub team suddenly transfers to a PCL
school before his junior year. This causes outrage
by some Pub faithful. I heard people say that he
shouldn’t be allowed to play for the PCL team. What
they don’t care about is the fact that the PCL
School that he transferred to is in his neighborhood
and he can actually walk to school everyday. The
public school he transferred from was a couple of
neighborhoods away and needed to take a bus or two
to get there. Nobody questioned that. Yet, some people are upset with the PCL joining the PIAA. The only ones who are hurt in the end are the kids. It seems as though
the public league, which as built several new super
sites over the past few years, is more concerned
about the look of their league than they are with
the kids who play in that league. You can dress the
league up, but sometimes you really can’t take them
out in public. And, to think, some people are upset
with the PCL joining the PIAA. --Mike F --- Greetings, My name is Tiffany Sheppard. I am a Sr. At W. Phila.
High. It saddens me to walk the hall with my fellow
Seniors/Varsity football players knowing that for
once since when received new administration in West
having been able to brag about good things and be in
the good eye of the media for once is now just a
short lived memory. This is totally unfair that we
are being penalized for a complete mistake! The W.
Phila. High Speedboys have worked more than 500% for
this and to have the rug pulled from under them now
is such a shame!! I believe that the PIAA should
rethink their decision this time and make sure this
type of thing does not happen again!! They need to
understand that most of these players are seniors
and this is there last time to do this before they
graduate and they should have a time to remember,
because truthfully that's what high school is all
about!! I hope that right decision will be made in
the end!! Respectfully, Tiffany Sheppard West Philadelphia High Class of 2008 --- I'm the offensive cord. For WPHS coach Larry. My
head coach John Lay would never cheat it's not
his way. This program & these kids have worked
very hard to become division champs. Just to get
the rug pulled from under them. These are kids
that hear nothing but negativity all the time,
and then the school district gives them some
more. We are supposed to be their role models.
We tell them if you work hard good things can
happen, and then this happens to them how do we
explain this. They believed every thing we told
them and now I feel like a liar. I hope that
this will be iron out before next year. Because
when we win next year I don't want this problem
to show its ugly head again. We will be Division
Champ again CLICK CLICK BOOM. -- LB --- hello Mr. Silary, my name is Howard
Richmond. I play for the Furness Falcons. I
feel that the people who were supposed to be
on the team did their part to get the team
where it was, and that they should not have
to pay for the lack of smarts for other
players. I hope everyone has a good
remainder of a season. -- HR --- HI my name is Nikoli Norman, I play for
the West Philly Speedboys Team. I
believe that we were treated wrong, and
slighted. We as Speedboys have been
working hard since June 25 until now to
win a championship and they take the
one greatest thing from us that's not
right. Our head coach John Lay would
never cheat to win. Another thing why
wasn't this issue brought up last year
when Sean played last year? That doesn't
sound right to me. So was the PIAA
doing its job last year, or did they
just look over us because we did not
have a winning season? I believe
that this issue is a personal issue. As
the bible says '' You will reap what you
sow.'' That's all I have to say about
the issue, except this: We
will repeat next year and become
division champs, WE ARE THE REAL
DIVISION CHAMPS NOT LINCOLN , WEST
PHILLY IS . CLICK CLICK BOOM. DIVISION
CHAMPS. Nikoli Norman Class of 2009 Division Champs O-D Line --- I wanted to send you one more
e-mail addressing the events of the last
couple days. I would like to say I am
very proud of Coach Mike Capriotti, his
staff and the entire team. In our life
time we all have setbacks, failures and
disappointments. But none of these
define who we are. What does define us
is how we respond and react to those
challenges. Keep your integrity and
character intact and tell the truth no
matter what the consequences may be.
Coach Capriotti did exactly that and as
a Frankford alumni he has made me very
proud. -- Al F. --- Almost 20 years old?? Wouldn't want
that kid teeing off on my 13 or 14
year old freshman during football
camp in August! Anyway, the coach who said he hopes
the PCL is policing itstelf as well
as the PUB' is a little goofy.
Maybe. I'll give him a pass, he
either got caught or got burnt by
someone who had the job of crossing
the Ts and dotting the Is. If the
PCL is policing itself as well as
the PUB then they shouldn't join the
PIAA. But, I highly doubt there are PCL
teams using players from other
schools to begin with, legal or not.
I guess any school could get caught
with an overage player if that
players family tries hard enough to
fool them. Not that this is what
happened at Frankford. The thing
that will get the PCL in trouble
will be transfers, that sort of
thing. With charter schools, and changing
demographics the PCL is going to be
a completely different place in 10
years. And, I'd imagine the PUB will
be also, and rather insignificant as
far as most sports go. -- anonymous (Ted's note: One clarification: The person who said he hopes the PCL is
policing itself as well as the Pub
was Robert Coleman, the D-12
chairman. Not a coach.) --- Ted, I read your article concerning
Public League Football, and,
needless to say, I was very
upset at what I learned. The
most distressing thing is the
timing. Why now??? It seems to
me that if someone knew we were
using an ineligible player, they
would have notified us
immediately. I know that
Michael Capriotti would never
knowingly use anyone who was not
permitted to play. But to wait
until we made the playoffs and
then report the discrepancy
seems cruel and mean to kids who
worked extremely hard to achieve
the success that might have been
within our grasp. It would have
been quite a feat to repeat
again as PL Champions. I really hope that this incident
does not cast any shadow over
the character of Mike. He is an
outstanding gentleman and a fine
coach who has carried on the
Frankford traditions as well as
anyone possibly could. I have
been associated with Michael for
about forty years. From when he
was a student at Frankford High
School until today when he is a
teacher and coach at the school
he graduated from and where he
helped to bring a Public League
championship to his school. He is constantly building
character through his teaching
and coaching, and even amid the
disappointing occurrences of the
past few days, his team and
coaches have gathered around him
to show their support for this
fine gentlemen. In spite of the forfeiture of
games that took away any
possibility to enter the
playoffs, our young players will
give their best on the football
field. This is a tribute to the
head football coach, Michael
Capriotti. Thanks, -- Andy Folino (Ted's note: Andy was Frankford's long-time JV coach and varsity
assistant and still remains
active with the program.) --- I’m a player for one the teams
I’m an ineligible player so
called what ever they say if my
school doesn’t have a football
why should I suffer if I want to
play the game of football I was
suppose to play for franklin
they said but I don’t like the
coach there and he doesn’t like
me so I went to play for penn
and there I got to start and
showcase my skills if I was to
stay at franklin I never would
have played it shouldn’t matter
what team I play for if my
school doesn’t have a football
team I just wanna enjoy the
game. I go to Vaux. --- The Frankford High and West
Phila. High situations would
never have occurred if the
Administration had done
their job! The sheets of
players are always turned in
long before anyone plays a
game. If there was any doubt
about the players ability to
compete it should have been
corrected BEFORE any games
were played. To make teams
forfeit games at the end of
the season is inexcusable. I
feel for the Speedboys and
the Pioneers. I coached
Varsity Football at both
schools. -- Bill Clausen --- I am a volunteer
assistant coach for a
charter school. This is
the third year that I
have been with the team,
and thoroughly enjoy
coaching in my former
league. I was elated
when I heard of the PUB
joining the PIAA, as the
current athletes would
have the opportunities
and exposure that we did
not have during my time.
(Overbrook class of
'94). With the partnerships,
there is too much room
for mistakes to be
made. You have players
that are not in your
school on a daily basis,
and you have to rely on
other adults (not
coaches) to tie up loose
ends. Any head coach in
this league cannot dot
all I's and cross all
T's. A reliable staff
is paramount in this
sport. The league may
have to seriously have
to reconsider this
partnership arrangement
if they want to avoid
further embarrassment in
the future. and this
truly is an
embarrassment. However, this is not the
only embarrassment that
the pub faces. In my
opinion the new playoff
seeding is a travesty.
Can it be more obvious
that the PUB wants the
champ to come out of the
RED division. During my
time, we had four
divisions, with the top
two teams in each
division making the
playoffs. The current
"setup" has four teams
coming out of the RED
division, two from the
White, and one from the
BLUE and AAA divisions.
How can a division
with 6 teams place 4
teams in the playoffs.
The rules of probability
alone will tell you that
the number 3 team will
be at or just above .500
and the number 4 team
will have a losing
record. Now while I am
fully aware that the
division record is what
counts, 2,3, and 4 in
the red division all
have four wins, with two
of them below .500. The
3 and 4 teams have
losing division
records. In the White
division, Gratz has made
the playoffs with a 3-7
overall record. My team
has a better overall
record than 4 of the
playoff teams, and a
better division record
than 3 of those four.
Now we did not handle
business in our
division, hence we are
not in the playoffs.
But it is very
disheartening when you
have a better record
than playoff teams for
the second year in a
row. If the pub wants
to be taken seriously on
the state level it has
to solve these issues.
In the 10/30 issue of
the daily news chairman
Joe Stanley is quoted as
saying "AAA is
considered to be "a
better division" than
BLUE". So why is there
only one team from AAA
in the playoffs????? Is
it because none of our
AAA teams are from the
Northeast????? If the
RED division is supposed
to be the cream of the
crop, spread them out
across the AAAA
divisions and lets see
if they meet up in the
playoffs. With this
current system,
divisional play is what
determines our
champion.... -- Coach at a program on
the rise....... (Ted's note: By definition, AAA is based solely on enrollment. The other
three divisions are set
up, by design, to be
grouped by ability.
That's why teams move up
and down each season.
Not a perfect system, of
course, but the top six
teams are "supposed" to
be in Red and that's why
it receives so many
playoff spots.) --- I truly feel sorry
for those young men
who had to forfeit
their championships.
I happened to see
the West Philly/
Lincoln game and I
was very impressed
with both the effort
and sportsmanship
shown by both teams.
Having said that;
however, I truly
feel that High
School sports are
moving dramatically
away of their
original intent,
winning has become
an end to justify
any type of
behavior.
Neighborhood teams
which were once
sources of pride
have given way to
mercenaries whose
identification with
the school is only
their jersey
numbers. Young men
who once would die
to put on their
local high school’s
uniform now want to
know what they are
being offered. Year
after year I watch
as the Kennedy-Kenricks
and Conwell-Egans
get decimated in
football and most of
the Catholic League
basketball teams get
ready to be
sacrificial lambs
for a few and shake
my head in dismay.
High School sports
are more than just
winning
championships; it
should also be about
building character
and gaining an
understanding of
hard work.
Unfortunately I
think those concepts
are becoming less
and less a part of
the equation. -- Fran McD --- hey ted, i was reading up on all this stuff about the PUB, and also
reading up on all of
the comments people
are writing about
the situation the
PUBS in.. I do feel
real bad for
frankford and west
philly, for the most
part Frankford,
because they had a
great chance of
winning the
championship again.
Also i was reading
up on one of the
comments and someone
was saying that its
not fair that 4
teams from the BEST divsion go to the
playoffs..i think
that was the
smartest thing the
PUB ever did. Let me
give you an example,
my Senior year,2005,
My football team beat Central, Germantown,
and Bartram all
during that season,
but because my team
was in the best
division playing
power house teams
like frankford,
washington, and
northeast we didn't
get to go to the
playoffs. But
central, germantown
and bartram get to
go because there in
a bad division. So
while we were
sitting home knowing
we were better then
h! alf the teams in
the playoffs we
couldnt do anything
bout it because
theres no comp in
the other
divisions.. we made
our point by beating
those teams from
other divisions, but
got nothing out of
it. But now it
doesn't work like
that because i feel
if my team was in
the B or the C
division we would
have ran all over
those teams from the
lower divisions.
Also another
example, since 1999
it has always been
Frankford or washington
that have won the
championship.. so i
think that how the
pub has its playoffs
made up of is a
wonderful idea... LINCOLN "05" --- I believe if
grades were
actually
investigated on
a week to week
basis as the
PIAA requires,
academic
eligibility
would make this
issue even more
severe. To stay
competitive many
ADs ignore their
responsibility
to check
athletes' grades
on a weekly
basis until
report cards are
issued, then
many athletes
receive some
sour news
because it was
not monitored
during the
season. I know
of one situation
where athletes
were permitted
to compete
despite all
failing grades
on their report
card. Yes,
plural,
athletes. Also, the
Central
Administration
should accept
full
responsibility
for this chaos,
because they do
not even attempt
to investigate
teams randomly. -- SD of
Philadelphia
Teacher ---
Author
Published
March 5, 2026
Updated
March 5, 2026