
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 18, 1993                   TAG: 9311180134
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PULASKI COUNTY STILL WAITING

After more than four hours of testimony Wednesday, Pittsylvania County circuit court judge Robert Vines took under advisement a case being brought by two GW-Danville football players seeking an injunction against the Virginia High School League to permit their team to play in the Northwest Region Division 6 playoffs.

The delay in rendering a decision means that Pulaski County must wait one more day to find out its first-round opponent for a game that is scheduled to be played Friday in Dublin.

Larry Moore and Pat Daly, two of the Eagles' three captains, brought the suit Wednesday after the VHSL super appeals committee turned down GW-Danville's appeal to permit it to replace C.D. Hylton as Pulaski County's opponent.

At issue is a game played by Hylton at Jefferson County, W.Va., that was tied 3-3 at halftime when the game was called off because of lightning. The game was never resumed and the VHSL declared the game no contest when executive director Earl Gillespie was told by a West Virginia official that this was his state's rule.

Gillespie later discovered the West Virginia official had erred and that under national federation rules, which both West Virginia and Virginia follow, the game should have been recorded as a tie.

Had the game been declared a tie, then GW-Danville would have had a higher point rating than Hylton on the VHSL scale used to determine wild-card playoff teams.

Vines took the case under advisement, according to one court official who would not have spoken had he been named, because the judge had to decide whether he had the right to hear the case. Citing a past case, the VHSL had argued that since the school, GW-Danville, accepted the ruling by the super appeals committee, a court didn't have the right to hear the case.

Vines did hear testimony from both sides and is expected to render a decision today.

Officials at Pulaski County have said that if the opponent is changed and GW-Danville becomes the Cougars' first-round foe, they'll ask the VHSL for the game to delayed until sometime next week.

by CNB