Ripon Christian football receives probation, playoff ban over club league ties
The Ripon Christian High football team was placed on three years probation and banned from postseason play for two after the Sac-Joaquin Section found the program violated rules tied to its alleged participation in a club league last winter.
The school’s athletic program also was placed on probation for the upcoming school year.
Three other section schools – Stone Ridge Christian of Merced, Capital Christian of Sacramento and Vacaville Christian – also were penalized.
Section Commissioner Mike Garrison, in a one-page press release, said by playing in a club league last February and March – after being put on notice by the section – the schools violated state safety and health standards tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also pointed to some club teams lacking separation from schools.
Ripon Christian Knights coach Phil Grams told The Bee Thursday afternoon that the school was not in violation of any section or California Interscholastic Federation rule.
He said his Knights Outdoor Fitness and Skillz Academy club football team, which played five games in the Petaluma-based California Association of Private Sports league, or CAPS, had no affiliation with the private school.
On the ruling, Grams said the section’s evidence was “not a statement of fact. It was a statement of what the CIF thought.”
Garrison, who sent a letter to schools in February warning participation could result in penalties, disagreed.
“While it is understood that the postponement of interscholastic athletics due to the COVID-19 pandemic was frustrating and had an adverse impact on all our member schools and student athletes, the fact is that the shutdown was a public safety issue,” Garrison said in a statement. “We have approximately 150 member schools, within the CIF-SJS and the vast majority of them held off until given the go-ahead to participate in football. Unfortunately, a few schools ... elected to participate in football contests while wearing school uniforms, using school equipment and school facilities under the supervision of team coaches.
“We expect all of our schools to follow the rules and we attempted to be as proactive as possible in getting that message out but unfortunately there were a few schools who ignored the rules and my guidance.”
The league began forming late last year after the high school football season – along with all high schools sports – was put on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Some felt the league, which had about a dozen teams that competed in February and March, was a much-needed outlet for kids who had been cooped up during the pandemic.
Others felt it put the players’ health in danger, especially when the rate of COVID-19 infection was still high. At the time, when the CAPS season started, Stanislaus County, among northern San Joaquin Valley counties, was in the state’s purple tier, restricting businesses and other activities.
Moreover, a school cannot represent itself as a club and use its own football gear or practice on school grounds unless it is leased out. That expense, largely tied to equipment, tends to be a stumbling block for football taking hold as a club sport compared to, say volleyball or soccer.
One coach told The Modesto Bee in February that one of the club football teams under CAPS had been using equipment from a school that hadn’t fielded a team in years. It was unclear if the equipment was safe to use after years of storage. Football helmets come under strict regulation, and must undergo a recertification process.
Garrison told The Bee early Thursday evening that he could not go into details of how his organization investigated the Knights Outdoor Fitness and Skillz Academy team, although it did not differ from investigations into other participants. He did say that the four sanctioned programs did not separate from their schools unlike other teams in CAPS.
Grams insisted Thursday there was no affiliation with Ripon Christian.
“This is the last thing we want to do and we never want to do this,” Garrison said. “I was hired by our member schools to uphold rules and the regulations and expectations of this section. We are proactive in expressing what those expectations are. We did our best to communicate with these schools our expectations.”
Garrison said the punished programs can appeal, a process that includes a panel of three former or current members of a high school or school district and sports administration. The appeal would take place and have results sometime in the fall, Garrison said.
Grams said he felt his school would try to appeal.
Kevin Tameling, Ripon Christian’s athletic director, in a statement sent to The Bee late Thursday afternoon, wrote: “This afternoon, Ripon Christian High School administration received a letter from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner, Mike Garrison, regarding sanctions being levied upon our football team and athletic program for alleged violations of CIF bylaws.
“We will be reviewing that documentation closely as an administration and school board to determine the best path forward for our school.”
Stone Ridge Christian’s penalties were the same as Ripon Christian’s.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 4:43 PM.
