FHSAA rules in favor of 2 Wildcats
Winter Park football players Brendon Lightsey and Kendall Innis had their eligibility status reinstated by the FHSAA but standout running back Peter Hayes-Patrick remains ineligible.
OCALA — One of four former Timber Creek football players ruled ineligible after transferring to Winter Park in the spring won his full appeal Wednesday at a Florida High School Athletic Association hearing.
Kendall Innis, who was initially ruled to have taken an impermissible benefit via a housing agreement through a parent of a Winter Park football player, had his eligibility restored at an FHSAA sectional appeals committee meeting hearing at Ocala Trinity Catholic High School.
The committee also cleared Brendon Lightsey pending the receipt of an original copy of his father’s leasing agreement along with additional paperwork. Lightsey must remain sidelined until the paperwork is reviewed by the committee, including the lease, which was initially believed to have been altered.
Standout senior Peter Hayes-Patrick, younger brother of Florida State running back Jaquez Patrick, and classmate Anthony Nixon Jr. had their appeals denied by the committee for falsification of documents and an impermissible housing benefit, respectively.
Kermit Innis, father of Kendall, expressed frustration with the way Winter Park High School handled the situation. “I’m very disappointed the way that this investigation was handled in the first place,” he said. “We were never contacted to find out what the issues were. If we were, we would’ve gotten it squared away before it ever got this far.”
Following a separation by Kendall’s parents, his mother signed an agreement in the spring to rent a property from Rocco English, a father of a Winter Park player and a long-time family friend.
Documents were presented to the committee showing the family’s relationship dating back more than 10 years, which played a role in the reversal. Although she is no longer living at that address, the leasing agreement was what was on file when the OCPS, school and FHSAA conferred two weeks ago.
“I want to make sure that my son’s name is cleared because he’s never been in trouble for anything at all in his life,” Kermit Innis said. “He’s an upstanding citizen, he’s going to college, and I’m very disappointed that the newspaper would have his name in there with any foolishness, so I want to make sure it’s retracted.”
Kermit said he was not made aware of any inquiry taking place until Winter Park athletic director Mike Brown called to inform him that they had two days to file an appeal. It was a similar concern echoed by those representing three other students.
Brown said when he was notified by OCPS that the status of 14 transfers were in question, he said he reached out to Craig Damon, the FHSAA’s associate executive director for eligibility and compliance, and asked if he should contact parents of the players.
“He said, ‘We’re just going to talk to you, the principal and your county athletic director,’ and that was it,” Brown said.
The FHSAA clarified that “It was never the FHSAA's investigation. It was the school and the school district that did the investigation. We did zero investigating. We just ruled on their findings. FHSAA Policy 36 states the [school] principal is responsible for notification.”
The sectional committee hearings are held in front of an attorney, representatives from public and private schools and a school board member or superintendent.
Hayes-Patrick, who is classified as being homeless under OCPS’s McKinney-Vento program, had been living with Lightsey’s family in the Timber Creek school district before recently moving in with family members in Winter Park.
He was officially enrolled at Winter Park on Aug. 9, five days after being photographed in the school’s football uniform at the Orlando Sentinel’s preseason media day.
Representatives for Hayes-Patrick declined to allow him or his mom to comment after the decision was made.
The next step for those who lost appeals will either be an informal or formal mediation upon receipt of paperwork or another hearing in front of the FHSAA board of directors on Sept. 23.
Nixon’s request for appeal was denied by a 4-3 vote due to a sub-leasing agreement his father signed with Mike Jackson, a father of a Winter Park player who also transferred from Timber Creek in the spring.