NJSIAA Won't Sanction Timber Creek Football Program Over Eligibility Issues

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — There will be no sanctions levied against the Timber Creek Regional High School football program by the NJSIAA following an investigation into allegations of ineligible players in the program, the Courier Post reports.

However, it will work with the Black Horse Pike Regional School District to “upgrade protocols related to the transfer of student athletes into any of the district’s schools,” according to the report. Highland Regional and Triton Regional are also in the district.

The district will be required to make state bylaws more readily available throughout the district; train administrative staff on transfer and enrollment procedures; train coaches on residency protocols; and incorporate the NJSIAA into the training of all administrators and coaches, according to the report.

Administrative staff includes principals, vice principals, athletic directors and assistant athletic directors, as well as coaches, according to the report.

The announcement follows the announcement by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office in September that no criminal charges would be filed in the investigation, which was prompted by a 13-page anonymous letter from a group called Stop Taking Our Players (S.T.O.P.).

The group of parents, educators, coaches, game officials, administrators and attorneys accused the football program’s coaches of illegally recruiting athletes and misrepresenting local addresses for students from outside the district so that those students could play for the school’s football teams that won championships in 2011, 2012 and 2015. Timber Creek also won a championship in 2016.

In clearing the program of criminal charges, the prosecutor’s office made it clear that it had “uncovered residency discrepancies in transfer documents submitted to the school district.”

It shared the findings of its investigation with the NJSIAA, which found no reason to move forward with sanctions.

S.T.O.P also informed the school district, which opened its own investigation that revealed that questions about the residencies and eligibility requirements of student athletes in the Black Horse Pike Regional School District pre-date the investigation into Timber Creek.