No Decision Yet By D2/ Votes On 2 Transfers Tabled Until August
By JOE PETRUCCI [email protected]
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 Page: 1B
The District 2 Athletic Committee is not yet convinced that Dalen Broussard
and Ralph Rostock should be eligible to play football at Berwick High School
after the student-athletes recently transferred from Pittston Area.
The committee voted unanimously on Tuesday at Wilkes-Barre Area
Vocational-Technical School to table separate votes on the eligibility of
Broussard and Rostock to participate in interscholastic sports until its next
meeting on Aug. 11. The committee also will invite Broussard, Rostock, their
families and representatives from Pittston and Berwick to an “informational
meeting” on that date, four days before the official start of football
practice.
After gathering information, the committee can vote on the players’
eligibility or request a hearing.
“We’ve got two very unusual cases,” said D2 chairman Frank Majikes.
Making the committee’s decision significant is that Pittston Area’s Jack
Lussi and Berwick’s Rich Walton signed the principal-to-principal waiver,
which means both schools concluded the transfers were not done with athletic
intent. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association bylaws prohibit
student-athletes’ transfer, in whole or in part, for athletic purposes.
Majikes, who has been involved with the D2 committee for more than 20
years, said he was unaware of any other cases of eligibility within the
district that have been similarly scrutinized after a principal-to-principal
waiver was signed.
The committee, represented by 11 of its 20 members on Tuesday, unanimously
approved the eligibility of five student-athletes before spending nearly 45
minutes discussing how to handle Broussard’s and Rostock’s cases.
West Scranton athletic director Bill King was the first to question the
Broussard situation. Berwick is the fourth school in which Broussard, a
multi-purpose back in football and standout sprinter in track and field, has
enrolled in the past five years. After a hearing last summer, the D2 committee
upheld Broussard’s eligibility after he transferred from Meyers to Pittston.
Broussard was enrolled in the Crestwood School District in eighth and ninth
grades.
On Tuesday, members expressed the need for more information.
“It’s very odd to me,” said committee member Maureen Williams, the
representative for female officials from Wilkes-Barre. “(Broussard) always
seems to show up where there’s a good football team. Is that a coincidence?”
In Broussard’s sophomore season at Meyers, the team was undefeated before
falling in the District 2 Class 2A semifinals. Pittston Area was expected to
be a playoff contender last season, when Broussard dislocated his ankle in the
season-opener and missed the rest of the year, but the Patriots finished only
season.
“I find it hard to believe that athletics don’t play a part in this,” said
Bishop Hoban athletic director Jim Higgins.
Majikes excluded himself from deliberation of the former Pittston Area
players. Pittston Area feeds into the Wilkes-Barre Area Vocational-Technical
School, of which Majikes is principal. Also, Rostock’s father is a member of
the Vo-Tech’s board and Rostock’s mother works at the school.
Majikes did not know why Pittston Area superintendent Ross Scarantino did
not exclude himself from the discussion of his former students. Scarantino
left because of an emergency soon after seconding a motion to have the
informal meeting.
Broussard and Rostock, a standout lineman, are permitted to work out with
the Berwick football team while their eligibility is pending, Majikes said. If
the committee moves to have a hearing rather than vote on their eligibility on
Aug. 11, the players would still be able to practice with the team when
practice starts Aug. 15.
Should the committee declare Broussard and/or Rostock ineligible, they
would not be allowed to participate in scrimmages or games but would have the
opportunity to appeal the ruling to the PIAA.
District 2 Athletic Committee meeting
Aug. 11, 2 p.m.
Site TBA
