Mustangs deserve one more game … maybe against the Knights?

After sitting in limbo for weeks, the gavel came crashing down on the Chugiak Mustangs and their playoff hopes late Monday afternoon.

Anchorage School District officials made the final call, denying Chugiak’s appeal of a decision that plucked the team of three victories.

Alaska Schools Activities Association officials ruled midseason that Chugiak would be forced to forfeit its three wins — two Cook Inlet Conference victories and a third nonconference win — for the Mustangs’ use of an ineligible player.

Since the Mustangs have been corralled by controversy and tossed up a final Hail Mary with the appeal, which was heard by ASAA Monday morning.

At the end of that meeting, ASAA voted to uphold its ruling, but in a virtual game of political hot potato, threw the final say to the Anchorage School District.

ASD ultimately ruled the forfeits stand and Chugiak will not be one of four Anchorage-area teams headed to the postseason.

Regardless of whether this decision is right or wrong, let’s give the Mustangs one more chance to hit the field.

So this is my proposal: the Chugiak Mustangs versus the Colony Knights in a nonconference, nonplayoff game this weekend.

I am sure there could be a handful of teams that would step up and give the Mustangs one more game. But both of these programs embrace a friendly rivalry and are perfect candidates to stage this extra contest. The Knights and Mustangs co-host an offseason camp each year, and the respect the Colony and Chugiak coaches have for each other is obvious to even those outside of the respective programs.

In one of the greatest examples of class I have ever witnessed on the football sidelines, Chugiak head coach Duncan Shackleford took time to praise his opponents, the Knights, for their work and dedication during a difficult season after the Mustangs’ 35-7 win over Colony earlier in the season.

Coincidentally, the victory over Colony is one of the three wins Chugiak was forced to forfeit.

But would Colony be willing to play in a ninth game?

“I definitely would not be opposed to it,” Colony head coach Brian McIntosh said Monday afternoon as I threw my idea at him.

Like everyone else in the Alaska football circle, McIntosh has been following Chugiak’s story and said he’s torn about the decision.

“I really like Chugiak,” McIntosh said. “I’m a stickler for the rules, but I have a heart too.”

Colony High activities director Mike Boyd said early Monday evening he didn’t know offhand of any ASAA bylaws that would prevent the schools from scheduling an extra game.

“I don’t think it’s impossible, but I’d have to talk to ASAA,” Boyd said.

Boyd said there is a waiver process that allows athletes in some sports to compete after the end of ASAA’s season. For example, local cross-country runners have competed in meets Outside after the season.

Nonplayoff games after the regular season games have been scheduled before. In 1993, Palmer and Service both missed the playoffs and opted to add sort of a consolation game.

I should know. I was there.

This controversy erupted late last month after ASAA learned the then- 3-3 Mustangs had used an ineligible player during the first six weeks of the season. A call was made to Chugiak High that a home-schooled Mustangs player did not meet ASD’s eligibility rules.

The ruling stripped Chugiak of CIC wins over South Anchorage and Eagle River, and a nonconference victory over Colony.

The mistake was called a clerical error, giving the Mustangs fuel for a potential appeal. Chugiak continued to gallop through the regular season in playoff mode, scoring wins over playoff-bound teams West Anchorage and East Anchorage during the final two weeks of the season.

Many have questioned the ruling, arguing a clerical error should not lead to the premature end of a team’s season. This case also reveals the grey area present in these eligibility rules. In Anchorage, a player enrolled in one homeschool program (IDEA) is not eligible to participate in team sports, but students in a pair of other homeschool programs are.

So, does this happen more often than we know of? Are there other examples that have gone unnoticed? Is Chugiak just the unlucky target of a whistle-blower?

What do we do to prevent this? Should the rules involving the eligibility of homeschooled athletes be more black and white? Should the school administration be taxed with double, triple or even quadruple checking the eligibility of these nontraditional athletes? Is it the parents’ responsibility of ensuring their homeschooled child is eligible?

This was probably an honest mistake, perhaps paperwork that latterly fell through the cracks. If that phone call to Chugiak High was never made, we could be talking about the second-seeded Mustangs right now.

Regardless, I know if I’m a Chugiak football player, a senior in particular, I’d have a hard time swallowing this one. An extra game will not replace the experience of participating in the postseason. But after sitting in limbo for two weeks, gripping to the hope that their appeal would be granted, it might be therapeutic for the Mustangs to hit the field one more time.

Plus, it would give the Colony seniors another chance to add something positive to a rough season.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.