HERRIMAN — After the Utah High School Activities Association ruled East High School be allowed to go to the playoffs and upheld their decision concerning Timpview High School's forfeits, Herriman High School released a statement asking the panel to reconsider their decision.

Friday, The Board of Trustees ruled that the seven-game forfeit would be lifted for East High, but the school will receive a $6,000 fine for allowing the ineligible player to participate in those games. They also will not be allowed to keep their Region 6 title, and coach Brandon Matich will be placed on a three-game probation.

The Board of Trustees also ruled that the Timpview penalties would be upheld, and the team will forfeit the two preseason games that an ineligible player participated, and pay a $1,500 fine.

With Timpview forfeiting two region games for playing an ineligible player, they were penalized by dropping down from the top seed in Region 8 to the 3rd seed. That means that Logan, the 2 seed from Region 5, who was scheduled to play a lower level team in the first round of the playoffs, will now have to play the 2nd ranked team in the state.

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UHSAA: East High allowed to go to playoffs; Timpview forfeits upheld

After an appeal and silent protest from East High students, players and parents, the Utah High School Activities Association have ruled to allow the Leopards to participate in the playoffs. The Timpview forfeits were upheld.

Herriman High School released a statement Sunday saying that the overturned decision against East High was "a harsh but completely justifiable decision" and that their final decision was an "arbitrary, capricious, and utterly indefensible decision that treated the two schools differently, is unprecedented, and opens a Pandora's box of problems for future cases."

They laid out in detail how the overturn "ignored the impact on the kids at Timpview," as well as Salem Hills, Springville, Cyprus, Mountain View, and Herriman high schools.

"(T)his issue is bigger than one game, or one playoff tournament. This unprecedented decision violates the concepts of equality and justice. It destroys the integrity of our system. It upsets the competitive balance that is inherent in our historical playoff format. To participate in the tournament under these circumstances would be to endorse the outcome and condone the hypocrisy."

The statement also said that Herriman High School and parents of the involved players were considering taking legal actions and gave the Board of Trustees "only two possible outcomes": One, to reinstate the decision of the Executive Committee, which would forfeit all games in which ineligible player were involved, or two, allow both teams to keep victories already earned.

"Each of these results, though imperfect, are justified under the rules as written, treat both Timpview and East equally, punish the responsible parties, and limit the negative impacts on other members of the association, who are completely innocent third parties.

"One of these two results and not some arbitrary, unequal, and indefensible hybrid, is the only way to maintain the integrity of the 2012 4A Football playoffs. Any other result is a travesty that cannot go unchallenged by those seeking to maintain their own integrity."

Herriman's principal said he wanted to arrange a meeting with the High School Activities Association tomorrow, but no meeting has been set up. And because of the possible litigation, the UHSAA declined to comment on the school's statement.

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