Decision on McQuaid-Bennett football game likely comes Tuesday. What we know now

There could be a decision made Tuesday on whether the McQuaid football team can continue to play in the high school state tournament.

Chris Watson, a spokesperson for the New York State Public High School Association, the organization running the tournament with the help of sections or regions, said NYSPHSAA was told a hearing regarding the dispute between McQuaid and the Erie County Health Department will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

In an excerpt of a statement released Monday, McQuaid officials said:

"From the outset, McQuaid Jesuit leadership has been, and continues to be, in regular communication with the Monroe County Department of Public Health, Section V officials, the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, and our counterparts at the Buffalo Public School district to ensure every precaution has and will be taken so that both teams compete in a safe environment. With the NYSPHSAA postponing the game until Tuesday evening, it has allowed McQuaid to continue testing every player, coach, and manager on the team. Testing this (Monday) morning returned zero positive results. Testing will take place again tomorrow morning."

Why the game was postponed?

McQuaid football players and coaches were about to board buses and ride to the team's state tournament quarterfinal Saturday night in Williamsville, Erie County, when they were told the playoff game was postponed.

Robert Zayas, executive director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, said the decision was made to postpone the Class AA Far West Regional game between Buffalo Bennett of Section VI and McQuaid at about 3:15 p.m. Saturday.

No reason for the postponement was announced by NYSPHSAA at first, but Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted there is "a COVID-19 outbreak with McQuaid's team."

McQuaid acknowledged in a statement that "some players and an assistant coach tested positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week."

Erie County Supreme Court awarded McQuaid a temporary restraining order last Saturday against the Erie County Health Department, which was concerned about a COVID-19 outbreak on the team from the private school in Brighton.

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association postponed the Class AA quarterfinal between McQuaid and Buffalo Bennett from Saturday to Tuesday, pending further court action.

McQuaid officials argue the Erie County Health Department wanted to prevent the Knights from playing the game against Buffalo Bennett, regardless of COVID-19 testing results and vaccination rates of players, coaches and managers.

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Reaction to the controversy

NYSPHSAA decided to postpone the game because the restraining order "prevents the Erie County Department of Health from enforcing public health COVID regulations," according to a statement tweeted out by NYSPHSAA.

"It's not that we're defying the restraining order," Zayas said. "We feel like it is the best decision considering the concerns about public health."

There are requests for McQuaid to forfeit.

Buffalo Public Schools superintendent Kriner Cash told the Buffalo News the episode is now "a racial injustice and inequality issue," because the game was scheduled for last Saturday, the Erie County Health Department had concerns about the level of health among the McQuaid Knights, questioning whether the Section V champions were ready to, and should play, so soon after a COVID-19 outbreak, but that the private school turned to a court and was provided a way for its team to play in any event.

In short, Buffalo Bennett was ready to play at the scheduled time, while according to the Erie County Health Department, McQuaid's status was in doubt.

"As host Section, the mandates set forth by the Erie County Department of Health (ECDOH) take precedence for contests in the Section," Section VI president Brett Banker said in a statement released Monday. "Despite the illnesses, McQuaid still had a large number of eligible players available to compete against Section VI's, Bennett High School in Buffalo on Saturday as scheduled.

"Based on New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) procedures that were shared with each Section, no change to the post-season schedule is to be considered short of extreme weather."

The Section VI executive committee held a session Saturday night, according to the organization's statement.

"Although we are sensitive to the virus impacting students and a coaching staff anywhere, it is our position that McQuaid should have traveled to Erie County with the ample number of players that they had available that met ECDOH regulations,” Banker also said in the statement. “Since that did not occur, we will be asking the Executive Director of NYSPHSAA to declare a forfeit and move a very-deserving, Bennett High School team forward in the state championships.

"We intend to cite NYSPHSAA’s own language regarding an inability to alter the post-season schedule."

Banker also said in the statement that it will " ... reach out to our representative legal team in an effort to advocate for our champion, Bennett. McQuaid made the decision, and chose to not comply with ECDOH restrictions.

"By forcing Bennett to possibly delay into next week creates an unfair competitive disadvantage for their athletes and does not help ensure the health and safety of this team. We are not interested in creating that scenario."

What happens now?

Buffalo Bennett and McQuaid are tentatively scheduled to play 6 p.m. Tuesday at Williamsville South High in Erie County and Section VI. The winner advances into the state semifinal game Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High. NYPHSAA rules require at least four days in between football games.

"We find yesterday's statement released by the Buffalo Public School Superintendent unfortunate," read McQuaid's statement. "Barring any further developments, we look forward to sending a healthy team, all of whom will have received five negative COVID-19 tests since last Thursday, to Williamsville tomorrow night for an opportunity to compete for a spot in the New York State football semifinals."

JAMESJ@Gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: McQuaid-Bennett football game postponed: What we know now