Appeal denied for Mills, which ends 0-10

Mills High School’s appeal to have its four victories in the 2019 football season reinstated was denied Tuesday.

The Arkansas Activities Association’s board of directors voted 7-0 to deny the appeal.

Mills self-reported a violation to the AAA on Nov. 4 for use of an ineligible player. The AAA announced the violation in a news release Nov. 6.

Stuttgart Coach Josh Price told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Nov. 13 that he originally turned in Mills, in which the AAA received Stuttgart’s letter of complaint Oct. 28. The Pulaski County Special School District filed an appeal to the AAA on Nov. 12.

The ineligible player, who was not named during the appeal hearing, transferred from White Hall to Mills before the 2019-20 academic year. He did not play football at White Hall, according to Mills Coach Cortez Lee, who was an assistant football coach at White Hall in 2018. But Lee said that he did participate in track and field at White Hall and also attended Pine Bluff during his high school career.

The four victories that were forfeited included a nonconference victory against Jacksonville on Sept. 6 (35-8), and three 2-4A Conference victories against Central Arkansas Christian (38-35 on Oct. 4), Lonoke (14-9 on Oct. 18) and Stuttgart (20-14 on Oct. 25).

The school was also placed on warning by the AAA for one year. Mills finished the 2019 season with an 0-10 overall record and 0-7 in the 2-4A.

AAA associate executive director Steve Roberts told the board of directors that the player was a key part of all four of Mills’ victories. The player had 128 yards on 11 carries against Jacksonville, and 122 yards on 12 carries against CAC. In Mills’ other two victories, the player had 72 yards on 13 carries against Lonoke, and 84 yards on 10 carries against Stuttgart.

“Three of the four games were decided by a touchdown or less,” Roberts said. “Any single act could have had an affect on the outcome of the game.”

Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Charles McNulty said the player was granted school choice in April to be able to transfer to Mills. But McNulty said there were registration issues such as incomplete paperwork, and that the player’s name was not put on Mills’ football roster when it was sent to the AAA.

The School Choice Act in Arkansas permits families to apply for and receive interdistrict school transfers for their children, subject to some restrictions. The Pulaski County Special School District first participated in the School Choice Act in 2018-19.

The AAA Handbook states that a student transferring to a nonpublic school must either be enrolled by July 1 before entering the seventh grade or wait 365 days before becoming eligible. The player also would be ineligible under the AAA’s domicile rule. His listed address was outside the Mills district lines.

McNulty said Tuesday that while Mills was not going to qualify for the playoffs even with the reinstatement of the victories, he wanted to fight for and support the football players, who he added were not at fault for the situation.

“Doing what’s right for the students is why we’re here,” McNulty said.

Mills did not qualify for the Class 4A playoffs because the Comets still would have been one game behind Heber Springs for the No. 5 seed because Heber Springs had a 4-3 conference record and Mills would have been 3-4. Heber Springs defeated Mills 28-14 on Nov. 8 in Little Rock, just two days after the AAA announced the Comets’ violation.

The 2-4A’s five playoff teams were No. 1 seed Riverview, No. 2 seed Southside Batesville, No. 3 seed CAC, No. 4 seed Lonoke and No. 5 seed Heber Springs. Of the five teams from the 2-4A, only CAC advanced to Friday’s second round and will play at Joe T. Robinson.

This was Lee’s first season as Mills’ head coach. He was hired in April to take over for Patrick Russell, who was at Mills for 12 seasons. Lee was an assistant coach at White Hall from 2016-18 and also had served as a head coach at Pine Bluff Dollarway.

The Comets have not been credited with a victory since Oct. 13, 2017, at Little Rock Fair. The Comets are on a 23-game losing streak, which is the state’s second-longest streak entering the 2020 season behind Rogers Heritage (24 games) of Class 7A.