James Monroe's football season may not end tonight after all.
The Yellow Jackets have filed an appeal with the Virginia High School League after JM Coach Rich Serbay yesterday forfeited all but one of the team’s games after he determined that the team had used an ineligible player for all but the game against Orange County High.
Serbay, who also serves as the Yellow Jackets’ athletic director, said tonight that he had resigned from that position, but that the resignation had not yet been accepted by James Monroe’s principal or the Fredericksburg school superintendent.
The VHSL’s communications director, Mike McCall, said appeals are usually heard every two weeks and the most recent one was held last Tuesday.
But Serbay said he will take part in a conference call tomorrow with the VHSL’s executive committee, as the Region I, Division 3 playoffs, which JM qualified for, begin on Friday.
McCall said the appeals process is “strictly based on merit.”
“It’s a lot to consider,” McCall said. “It’s simply based on ‘Does it meet the requirement to uphold the appeal or deny the appeal?'
Serbay said he discovered the infraction yesterday while preparing a roster for the Region I, Division 3 playoffs, which begin on Friday.
Serbay said this afternoon that he checked with guidance counselor Paulette Hawthorne this past weekend after receiving a call from someone in the community that the player was ineligible.
He also reported it to the JM principal, the superintendent and the VHSL.
“It’s the first time this has ever happened to me,” said Serbay, who has been the head coach for 24 years and the athletic director for the past 13. “I take pride in my job and obviously I made a big mistake. It’s going to hurt my team, my program and the community. I’m in pain.”
Serbay said faculty members and parents have encouraged him to rethink he resignation as athletic director.
“My phone’s been ringing off the hook and no one wants me to resign,” he said, “but I just feel so guilty. I overlooked something. I feel like a criminal.”
Serbay said he didn’t realize the ineligible player was a fifth-year student because he came from an area alternative school.
“I missed his entry date [at the alternative school]. There’s nobody to blame but me,” Serbay said. “I assumed the kid was a senior because of all the time he spent in alternative school. I assumed something I shouldn’t have assumed and I paid the price. I blew it. I made a mistake and I feel really bad. I’m going to take it on the chin because it’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
Amid the controversy, the Yellow Jackets defeated Courtland tonight, 10-6. The game may be the last for the Yellow Jackets this season. If they lose the appeal, they won’t get an opportunity to defend their Group AA, Division 3 state title.
“In my 13 years [as athletic director] this is the first one I missed,” Serbay said. “I feel really bad for my 52 players.”
For more on this story, read tomorrow’s Free Lance-Star