Eight Sequoyah-Tahlequah football players ruled ineligible

BY RYAN ABER
raber@opubco.com

Eight Sequoyah-Tahlequah football players and head coach Brent Scott were ruled ineligible Monday night by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association.

The ruling stems from the OSSAA rules governing summer camp and clinics.

The players were not named in a Cherokee Nation release on the sanctions but the Tahlequah Daily Press reported that the players included several big contributors for the Class 3A No. 7 Indians, including quarterback Brayden Scott.

Scott, a Memphis commit and the son of the head coach, is among the top recruits in the state for the 2013 class.

The players and coach remain ineligible at least until an appeal to the OSSAA’s Board of Directors on Nov. 7, two days before the playoffs begin.

The board has discretion to enforce additional penalties, possibly including forfeiture of games.

Earlier this summer, Sequoyah was ruled to have used an ineligible player on its slowpitch softball team and the team’s state championship was vacated as a result.

“Chief (Bill John) Baker has instructed my office and the Cherokee Nation to use every resource we have throughout the appeal process,” Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree said in a release. “The Chief and I find it unconscionable that students and families are being punished for the actions of adults who should have followed the rules.”