Goose Creek DQ Stands After Judge Denies Injunction

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Just as quickly as new hope sprung from a federal lawsuit filed in the disqualification of the Goose Creek Gators football program from postseason play, the hope was dashed.

Lawyers for the student at the center of the disqualification sought an injunction preventing the game this weekend between Northwestern and Bluffton and a fair determination of the student's eligibility.

But Judge Weston Houck noted an injunction was an extraordinary measure and there wasn't enough of an argument to convince him it was warranted in this case.

After school officials learned of a possible eligibility issue with a student last week, they alerted the South Carolina High School League. The league disqualified the team and required that every game be forfeited since Sept. 6. 

Students are only allowed to participate in four years of high school sports. The student involved is in his fifth year of high school. Goose Creek officials unsuccessfully argued that he was eligible to play because the student is in a special needs program and his 9th grade year was spent in a self-contained home for trouble youth. The student's lawyers argued that his inelligability was a violation of his federal rights.

Houck sited past courts that have ruled four-year eligibility rules were neutral to special needs students and noted he had no testimony from the prosecution to challenge that precedent.

The undefeated Goose Creek Gators were going for a second consecutive state championship title. The nationally ranked team has lost just one game in the last two seasons. They were 13-0 this year.

Read more of our Goose Creek Gators coverage.