NORTHFIELD, MA (FRANKLIN COUNTY NOW) — The controversy surrounding a scheduling error impacting the state high school sports tournaments now includes legal action by a local school district.
Pioneer Valley Regional School District filed for a temporary injunction this morning in Franklin
County Superior Court. Pioneer is seeking to ensure that the Massachusetts Interscholastic
Athletic Association place the school’s soccer teams into statewide tournament brackets
according to the teams’ actual win/loss records.
The PVRSD School Committee held an emergency meeting in open session Wednesday night to consider legal action. The School Committee voted unanimously to approve seeking an injunction.
In all, four Western Mass school districts–Minnechaug High School, Monson High School, Northampton High School, and now Pioneer–are seeking injunctive relief from penalties imposed by the MIAA for a scheduling error that occurred with 17 out of the 61 schools in the MIAA’s District 1, comprised of schools in Western Mass. The penalty has resulted in lowered team rankings in advance of the statewide tournaments.
Before the penalty was imposed, Pioneer’s boys soccer team was ranked #13 in the state. After the penalty, the Panthers ranking dropped to #28. Pioneer picked up a 5-1 win over Mt. Everett in the PVIAC Tournament. If the penalty remains in place, every win in the PVIAC tournament will result in a forfeit loss for the purposes of statewide tournament rankings, which would hurt the team’s standing even further.