Gray Collegiate Academy football appeal denied

The War Eagles' season is now officially over after the SCHSL appellate committee upheld the executive committee's earlier decision by a 5-0 vote

Gray Collegiate Academy got the news it didn't want to hear, Tuesday, when the SCHSL appellate committee, by a 5-0 vote, denied the War Eagles appeal and officially ended the team's season. / Gray Collegiate Academy Football Twitter

Gray Collegiate’s final appeal to salvage its 2024 football season ended in defeat on Tuesday.

The South Carolina High School League appellate committee voted 5-0 to deny Gray Collegiate’s appeal of sanctions upheld  by the league’s executive committee last week.

That means Gray Collegiate’s football season is officially over. The War Eagles were 6-3 on the field, including Friday’s 20-17 loss to North Augusta. Gray would have been a Class AAAA title contender but the War Eagles had to forfeit all their wins.

Half of the appellate committee’s 10 members were not present for the Zoom meeting Tuesday afternoon but the five who did were not swayed by Gray Collegiate’s arguments, including one that they be treated like another Columbia-area school. Irmo did not have to forfeit any games despite using an ineligible player.

It was pointed out during the meeting that Gray Collegiate, a charter school, has been fined or sanctioned five times by the SCHSL in the last two years.

“It appears there’s a lack of institutional control,” said committee chairman Gregory McCord.

This was Gray Collegiate’s second sanction of the 2024-25 school year.

The executive committee on Oct. 30 modified sanctions on the school, raising the fine from the initial finding from $500 to $2,500. Head coach D’Angelo Bryant, in his first year at Gray, was suspended for the rest of the school year along with an assistant coach for recruiting violations. Gray Collegiate was also put on warning status for one year.

Bryant and school officials decided to not appeal those sanctions.

The committee also upheld the original sanction on the use of an ineligible player and instructed the SCHSL staff to review the additional information and implement the fine of $500 per student that is deemed ineligible.

The executive committee vote was 10-2 in favor of upholding the original sanction for use of an ineligible player. It was confirmed during the hearing that the ineligible player was dressed for all six Gray Collegiate victories.

Gray Collegiate’s last resort was an appeal to the SCHSL’s appellate committee and it was set for 2 p.m. Wednesday. 

But the appellate committee members in attendance did not agree with the arguments presented by school officials. McCord also asked if the SCHSL could consider suspending Gray Collegiate from league competition, a sort of death penalty, if it is found to have committed another violation in the current school year. But that item was not on the agenda and no vote was taken.

Gray Collegiate is in its first school year as a member of the SCHSL’s Class AAAA. The school, which opened its doors in 2014, has been highly successful in athletic competition. Gray Collegiate won the 2021 Class AA football state championship and was runner-up to Oceanside Collegiate Academy, another charter school, in 2023.

The SCHSL adopted an attendance multiplier for charter schools and private schools to take effect in the current school year. Each student that resides outside a school’s designated attendance zone counts as three.

As a result, Gray Collegiate was moved to Class AAAA. Oceanside Collegiate got bumped up to Class AAA, as did 2023 Class A state champion Christ Church Episcopal.