An appeals committee for the Virginia High School League is reviewing and will soon make its decision regarding whether Hayfield High School is eligible for the postseason in 2024 and 2025.
The committee met Monday to hear from the Virginia High School League and Hayfield officials.
The VHSL has recommended that Hayfield be banned from the playoffs for 2024 and 2025.
The appeals committee will have the final say in deciding whether to uphold the VHSL’s recommended sanctions, uphold Hayfield’s appeal or increase or decrease the VHSL’s sanctions.
Hayfield’s football team is currently 8-1 and rated No. 1 in Class 6, Region C in the latest league power point ratings. Based on regular season results, the ratings determine the top eight teams that qualify for the playoffs from each region.
Questions have swirled around the Hayfield team since it hired former Freedom-Woodbridge football coach Darryl Overton earlier this year. Overton led Freedom to two successive Class 6 state championships.
This summer, the Fairfax County school system investigated whether students from Freedom had followed Overton to Hayfield and were not living in Hayfield’s school district.
After a two-month investigation, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Michelle Reid in August announced Hayfield’s football program had been cleared of any wrongdoing regarding transfers and eligibility following a two-month investigation.
But the Virginia High School League, the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the state, has the authority to conduct its own separate investigation.
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