TFA is still not in the playoffs, but a decision could be near.
Darren Heitner, the lead attorney for Heitner Legal out of Fort Lauderdale, said Friday his firm has filed paperwork seeking an injunction, on behalf of The First Academy football players, to get the courts to force the FHSAA to lift its current playoff ban on the team.
“We have sought emergency injunctive relief from the court and hope to have our position heard in the very near future,” Heitner said via email to the Sentinel.
It will have to be in the near future, because the football regular season ends for most teams on Friday night, while a handful of teams will have makeup games on Monday and Tuesday.
TFA was banned from the FHSAA football playoffs for two years last November following an investigation into allegations about wrongdoings within the football program. Two players were suspended for a game last year and head coach Jeff Conaway was suspended for the first six games this season. Originally, Conaway had been suspended for a year, but it was shortened after an appeal. The infractions involved players practicing with the team before they were officially enrolled at the school.
The Royals, who are 4-5 and have played one of the most difficult schedules in the state, end the regular season Friday night at powerhouse Lakeland (8-1).
One TFA coach said the players were told to prepare as if Friday would be their last game of the season.
TFA parents banned together two weeks ago and hired Heitner Legal to help them get their voice heard on what they believed were “egregious” sanctions placed on the TFA program.
Heitner wrote in a letter to the FHSAA’s executive director Craig Damon:
“My clients seek the immediate reversal of these penalties to permit their participation in the 2025 postseason, failing which we will pursue all available legal remedies, including an emergency injunction in state or federal court to enjoin enforcement of the ban and a civil action for damages arising from the FHSAA’s arbitrary and capricious conduct. The sanctions levied against The First Academy are egregious, arbitrary, and inconsistent with the FHSAA’s own precedents in handling similar violations at other member schools.”
Playoff brackets will be announced Thursday at noon. If the court rules in favor of TFA, the Royals, as the current FHSAA rankings stand, would host Orlando Christian Prep in a first-round playoff game Nov. 14.
Chris Hays can be found on X.com @OS_ChrisHays.
