Suspended Middletown youth football program to have appeal heard Monday

Middletown Youth Football and Cheer Program officials said their appeal of an indefinite suspension by their league has been scheduled for Monday.

The program has been suspended indefinitely by the Western Ohio Junior Football Conference. This is the first year the Middletown program has affiliated with the WOJFC.

Quincy Hightower, president of the Middletown program, said he was told Thursday night that the appeal hearing would be Monday, but the time and place had not yet been determined. He said the league bylaws outline when appeals will be heard.

MORE: Players, cheerleaders await fate as board reviews appeal

“All I know is that we won’t be playing this weekend,” Hightower said. “Our kids will be missing out.”

The WOJFC league chairman has not returned multiple calls for comment as of Friday morning from the Journal-News.

The Middletown teams were scheduled to play the next two weekends and possibly advance to the league playoffs.

But on the WOJFC website, the schedule says Middletown has “no game” scheduled for the rest of the season.

Parents said they wanted their children to have an opportunity to finish the regular season in the next two weeks and to compete in postseason tournaments. If the season is cut short, multiple parents urged the coaches to seek other tournaments to enter. Some said they also want Middletown to join another league next season.

Issues that parents said may have led to the suspension include playing extra games and players on one of the Middletown teams in grades kindergarten through sixth grades were not wearing proper protective gear, an infraction that they said was corrected early in the season. They also said Middletown fans were accused of misbehaving in the stands, but several of them defended their actions as being supportive.

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