Groves forfeits playoff game because of an eligibility issue
The MHSAA has put an abrupt end to the short-lived “Windy City era” in the Birmingham Groves football program, declaring multiple Chicago transfers that dot the team’s roster ineligible and forcing the Falcons (5-3) to forfeit their Division 2 district championship game against Warren Mott.
Birmingham Public Schools sent an email to players and parents Tuesday morning informing them of the MHSAA’s ruling and calling the reason for the forfeit an “incorrect interpretation of an eligibility rule.”
“Today, following conversations with MHSAA, it was determined that the Birmingham Groves Athletics Department in
correctly interpreted an eligibility rule,” the statement read. “With this knowledge and subsequent conversations with the MHSAA, our governing body for high school sports, Groves varsity football will be forfeiting the next contest with Warren Mott and the Groves football season will come to an end. We are extremely saddened that this has occurred but thank our senior leadership and the dedicated coaching staff for all they have done this season. This is not an ideal way to end the season but we do hope our players can be proud of the work they put in and the accomplishments they achieved this year.”
Attempts to reach Groves Athletic Director Thomas Flynn and football coach Brendan Flaherty have not been returned.
Groves has used quarterback Kaleb Garner and cornerbacks Myles Mooyoung and Diego Oliver since midseason. The trio, dubbed “The Chicago 3” by The Detroit Free Press in a feature piece that ran last weekend and raised quite a few eyebrows, landed in the area in September on the heels of the Illinois High School Association deciding to push the IHSA’s football season to the spring of 2021 in order to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Mooyoung is a 3-star college prospect with Power 5 offers from Boston College and Washington State. Garner is committed to St. Thomas, a future Division I FBS school transitioning from the DIII ranks, located in Minnesota.
For the past three years, Mooyoung, Garner and Oliver were teammates at Chicago Kenwood Acad
emy. They live together in a house owned by Mooyoung’s father. The MHSAA prohibits athletically-motivated transfers that are not “full-family moves.” Mooyoung and Garner are seniors, while Oliver is a junior.
The MHSAA hasn’t ruled yet on if Groves will have to forfeit all the regular season games the three participated in, according to spokesman Geoff Kimmerly. What is known for sure is that the Falcons’ 36- 0 blanking of Auburn Hills Avondale in the first round of the playoffs and their 30-21 win over crosstown rival Birmingham Seaholm in the district semifinals back on Friday are being thrown out.
Mooyoung returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against Seaholm to seal the win. Garner threw a pair of touchdowns in the victory.
Garner enrolled at Groves on Sept. 18. Mooyoung and Oliver enrolled a week later. By the Falcons regular season showdown with Seaholm on October 9, Garner had ascended to become Groves’ starting field general.
Falcons’ opening- day starter Jack Woods was injured the week before against North Farmington, allowing Gardner to enter the game late and engineer a game-winning scoring drive. Woods’ injury didn’t end his season, but lost him the job.
Mooyoung’s father Troy works for Morgan Stanley as a supervisor of hundreds of employees in Michigan and Ohio and has commuted between Metro Detroit and Chicago for the last several years.
He owns a house in Birmingham.
Both Garner and Oliver lived with the Mooyoung’s in Illinois.