UPDATE: Pell City plans appeal of AHSAA ruling

Oct. 7—Pell City schools plan to appeal the Alabama High School Athletic Association's decision to penalize their football team for violation of the organization's transfer rule.

Superintendent James Martin announced the move in a news release. The AHSAA recently announced it has stripped the Panthers of their lone win this season and fined the school.

Martin contests that Pell City has an unusual case that meets the spirit of the rule where dependents of the state will be eligible under the transfer rule.

"The student athlete in question has a custody order whereby a juvenile judge found the student athlete to be dependent as far back as 2018 and as recent as 2023," the news release said. "Custody was not awarded to DHR as a viable family resource was available. Custody was instead placed with the student athlete's aunt and uncle, who then enrolled the child in Pell City School System."

Officially, Pell City, in its first year under head coach Rush Propst, is 0-6 overall and 0-3 in Class 6A, Region 6 with the 24-16 win over Center Point now ruled as a Pell City forfeit. The AHSAA announced in a news release Saturday that Pell City played a student-athlete who was ineligible for varsity competition in violation of the transfer rule.

"This family story, and the willingness of the student's aunt and uncle to open their home to their nephew, should be praised and celebrated in this State; instead, the AHSAA has turned this story into a nightmare," Martin said. "Let's be very clear of the consequences of AHSAA's cruel interpretation of its Transfer Rule: in this case, the student in question would be immediately eligible to participate in high school athletics if he was placed in the Pell City School System by DHR, but according to AHSAA, he's somehow ineligible because he was enrolled by his legal custodian who is employed by the Pell City School System."

If the current AHSAA ruling stands then Pell City will be locked out of a top three finish in the region, no matter how well the Panthers do the rest of the way.

Only four region teams will make the playoffs so Pell City would likely need to go 3-0 against Shades Valley, Huffman and Pinson Valley in the next three weeks. However, Martin stresses in his release that the impact of the AHSAA's decision is more wide-reaching than Pell City's postseason fate.

"If this decision is allowed to stand, extended families across Alabama will be discouraged from accepting custody of student athletes in need of help when they are under the jurisdiction of the Alabama Juvenile Court," the release said. "Based on this case, those students would become immediately ineligible if the extended family had to move to another school district."

Senior Editor Mark Edwards: 256-235-3570. On Twitter: @MarkSportsStar.