Committee upholds postseason ban against Lake City

By: From staff reports | SCNOW
Published: October 23, 2008

The South Carolina High School League executive committee voted unanimously Thursday to uphold a postseason ban against the Lake City football team.

The committee’s 13-0 vote means the Panthers won’t be eligible for the playoffs, which begin in two weeks.

“We hoped they would look at this case differently, but they set a precedent with decisions they have made in the past,” Gentry said after practice Thursday.
“Their backs were against the wall, and they had to uphold (the postseason ban).”

Lake City and Wilson are both on probation and banned from the playoffs following a fight between the teams Aug. 28.

Both teams had players dismissed while others have served suspensions throughout season. Each school also was fined and won’t be allowed to compete in jamborees next year.

Wilson didn’t appeal its postseason ban, but Gentry feels he owed it to his players to do so.

“Our kids have been pretty focused and our kids deserved for us to do everything we could to get it overturned,” he said.

Lake City is 6-2 overall and 3-0 in Region 5-3A going into tonight’s game at Socastee.

The Panthers are on pace to have their best season since 2000 when they went 10-2 and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Manning 7-6.

“We got two region games left and our goal is to win the region,” Gentry said. “Even though we can’t officially (win the region), we won’t tell our kids otherwise.”