Kaneland boys used ineligible player, still will compete in sectional final

Originally ruled ineligible to play Friday night’s Rochelle sectional title game, the IHSA board upheld an appeal allowing Kaneland to play tonight despite using an ineligible player over the last seven games.

In a ruling on Thursday, a day after the Knights' 50-32 win over Rockford Boylan, IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said that Kaneland would have to forfeit those contests and would not be able to play in Friday night’s Class 3A Rochelle Sectional championship against Crystal Lake South.

The team is 31-1 and has won 30 straight games.

Kaneland administration appealed the ruling to the IHSA Board of Directors Friday morning, and the board amended the initial ruling to allow the Knights to face the Gators later Friday evening.

“The Board believes that IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson followed proper protocol when issuing his initial ruling,” said Dan Tully, the Principal at Notre Dame College Prep in Niles and the President of the IHSA Board of Directors. “New information came to light during the appeal hearing that led the IHSA Board to allow the team to continue to participate in the State Series. The Board acknowledges that failures by the Kaneland administration in seeking an eligibility ruling exacerbated this situation. We have directed the IHSA staff to work with the school to improve their processes moving forward, while also reevaluating the IHSA’s internal processes to identify ways to streamline the eligibility ruling process for all member schools.”

The board did uphold the student’s ineligibility.

A press release by the school said the issue came down to the IHSA’s online eligibility system.

“During the appeal hearing on March 7, we detailed our compliance efforts and our concerns about the new online eligibility reporting system,” stated the press release, which was not attributed to a specific Kaneland administrator. “Kaneland School District firmly believes we made every effort to comply with the new system. However, the administration was not of aware of concerns with this particular case.”

Neither the IHSA’s statement nor Kaneland’s mentioned who the ineligible player was. Athletic director David Rohlman did not immediately return a call or text seeking clarification.