No team in high school football had a more chaotic postseason that Gainesville in Georgia. The Red Elephants were involved in an ugly brawl that led to a messy legal battle, made a Cinderella run to the state championship, had its head coach resign, and got caught in violation of the rules.
All within the last two months!
This latest high school football ruling will retroactively strip Gainesville of its second-place finish. The state finally its got revenge on a team it (not-so) secretly wanted to lose the entire time.
Gainesville got into a massive high school football brawl.
We start our story in the second round of the playoffs on the 21st of November. The Red Elephants hosted a home game against an inferior seed. It very quickly got out of hand.
Gainesville went up 42-0 during the second half when some initial pushing and shoving very quickly escalated to a full-blown brawl. Mayhem ensued. Officials chose not to resume play. The game was called in favor of the home team with 1:57 left in the third quarter.
Although Gainesville was allowed to advance, the majority of its roster was suspended because of the melee. The Red Elephants were going to be without 39 players until they decided to go to court.
Gainesville High School filed a preliminary injunction against the Georgia High School Association to get its players back on the field, which was granted by a State Court Judge. All of the suspended athletes were deemed eligible to compete by the Superior Court of Hall County while the matter moved throughout the legal system.
The GHSA initially tried to fight back but it proved to be a logistical nightmare to delay the playoffs any further so it eventually gave up. The Red Elephants were allowed to continue with their full roster.
In the end, they could not get the job done.
Gainesville finished as the runner-up to Thomas County Central in blowout fashion after a month of chaos. Head coach Josh Niblett ultimately wore all black to his own funeral.
And then he left.
Niblett resigned from his position as head coach at the beginning of January. Deion Sanders hired him to coach tight ends at Colorado.
Georgia got is revenge.
Although it was an impressive run for Gainesville, it was not without controversy. The GHSA has retroactively stripped the Red Elephants of their semifinal victory and state championship appearance.
They apparently used an ineligible player during the 37-6 win over Rome.
The discovery prompted the association to disqualify Gainesville from the postseason. It also imposed a significant monetary fine.
School leaders confirmed that the student-athlete participated in the fourth quarter of the quarterfinal game. He entered the contest while it was being played under a state-mandated running clock.
The player’s family made a bona fide move during the offseason, which allowed him to transfer legally. He was allowed to play during the regular season because his form was approved.
However, the unnamed athlete was not eligible to compete during the postseason. As a result, the Red Elephants have been removed from the Class 5A postseason record for high school football in Georgia.
Gainesville’s chaotic postseason technically never happened.