The Salem Wildcats football team was originally forced to vacate its wins from the 2025 campaign and forfeit its first-round playoff matchup against Lumberton on Friday, but parents of players on the team have now gotten a local lawyer involved to challenge the ruling.
The program received notice Wednesday that it had violated an eligibility rule with a player on the team who had competed in four seasons of football that weren't consecutive, which is inconsistent with the Mississippi High School Athletics Association's guidelines.
Jarred Evans is the lawyer who has begun work on this issue. He explained that there is now a temporary restraining order in place regarding the MHSAA, and thus the Wildcats will be able to host Lumberton tonight at 7 p.m. in a game that is not sanctioned by the Walthall County School System.
Due to this, none of Salem's usual coaches or administrators will be able to be in attendance, as Evans and parents will be those handling the game.
There will be a hearing on Wednesday to gather more evidence and information for the court to determine the team's continued eligibility in the postseason.
"Our position is, if the kid is indeed ineligible, then you simply cut him out of playing and let the rest of the team play," Evans said.
Evans is actively working on obtaining transcripts that will provide clarity on the player's eligibility, and if there is any form of question about it, Evans will advise the athlete not to participate in Friday's contest.
"This kid has been here most of his life, and so I do believe this was a genuine oversight," Evans said. "But there are rules for a reason, and there's a lot of stuff that goes with things like this. I just think this is a scenario where cut the 'cancer' out, you don't kill the patient."
When it comes to Salem's ability to qualify for the playoffs in general, even forfeiting the wins would not leave them out of the postseason bracket. The Wildcats' district only contains four teams, so even if they were forced to claim an 0-10 record, they would still qualify.
A Monticello native, Evans was pulled into the case because two of the players on the squad also played on youth baseball teams he coached.
"I'm doing this to help them out, but I don't want to jeopardize any of the other players or teams," Evans said. "We feel for them and just want to help all the kids however we can."
