Status of Faith Christian-Oakwood game uncertain as Oakwood seeks relief from game time to accommodate religious beliefs
By Al Muskewitz
JACKSONVILLE – A conflict between game times for the AHSAA Northeast Regional basketball tournament and religious expression threatens to keep one boys team from making its first-ever appearance in the regional and sending Faith Christian to the regional finals for the first time in 14 years.
Huntsville’s Oakwood Academy and Faith Christian are scheduled to play in the Class 1A Northeast Regional at Jacksonville State Saturday at 4:30 p.m. But Oakwood is a Seventh-Day Adventist K-12 school and the tenets of its church preclude its members from engaging in physical activity from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, which this weekend is around 5:31 p.m.
Administrators from both schools have privately agreed to move the game time to accommodate Oakwood’s religious beliefs, but the ultimate decision falls on the Alabama High School Athletics Association and the governing body is unlikely to budge. The AHSAA will have no formal comment until the game is played or not played.
Oakwood is prepared to forfeit if accommodations can’t be made. School officials are set to meet Friday morning to determine a course of action. The school would have to notify the AHSAA of its intentions.
“As of right now we’re still trying to advocate for our varsity team to have, to make last effort attempts to see if the association was willing to change the time of the game,” Oakwood athletics director Calvin Morton said. “Right now they’re repeatedly telling us no. Right now, we’re in the course that we may have to forfeit the game because of our faith and religious belief.
“We’re still trying to push, we’re fighting to the last second, but it’s not looking bright for us.”
It wasn’t immediately certain if there’s a legal recourse for Oakwood if a change can’t be made. The other 1A boys regional semifinal between Cornerstone and Decatur Heritage is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and logistically could fill the 4:30 Faith-Oakwood slot and still keep the desired Decatur Heritage boys-girls doubleheader intact.
During the course of the regular season, Morton said, opposing schools have accommodated Oakwood’s Saturday sundown rule. “We do play a lot of games on Saturday night,” he said.
“The important thing for me is to at least give these varsity boys a chance to compete for a state championship,” Morton said. “We have seniors on the team and these could very well just be their last week of high school basketball for them. They may never play on the collegiate level. It leaves a bad taste in their mouth for something that they believe in and it comes off as if they’re being punished for something they believe in.”
Meanwhile, Faith Christian’s team was practicing Thursday afternoon as if it were playing Oakwood. Lions coach Cory Hughes couldn’t predict what will happen, but understands the position of both sides in what he called “a complex issue.”
“I think it’s a terrible situation all the way around; it just stinks,” Hughes said. “You don’t want to see this happen ever.
“We’ll be upset for sure (if they don’t get to play). I feel like that 4:30 time slot is an awesome time slot where so many people can come to that game. We were just excited about it, really thrilled to play in the regional in that time slot.”
Oakwood is making its first trip to the basketball regionals since joining the AHSAA in 2016.The Mustangs’ coach is former Jacksonville State player Melvin Allen, and the game would have marked his first return to Pete Mathews Coliseum as a coach.
Four years ago, Morton said, the school’s previous administration said it would not forfeit any championship or playoff games that fell during the Sabbath. [*** read more]
