The Class 4A football playoffs will be an even dozen, not a baker’s dozen.

A judge on Thursday denied Atrisco Heritage Academy’s request to be added as a 13th team to the 4A playoff field. Thus ends a legal challenge by a group of AHA parents that was seeking a legal remedy after the New Mexico Activities Association did not include the Jaguars in the 12-team bracket released last weekend.

In their complaint, the parents, acting on behalf of the players, said Atrisco Heritage was wrongly excluded from the playoffs, accused the NMAA of not following its selection and seeding criteria, and wanted a court to force the NMAA to alter the playoff bracket.

“I was not presented with any testimony or evidence today that describe how (the NMAA’s) eight (seeding) criteria were utilized, discussed or analyzed by NMAA, and I was only provided with partial testimony about two of the elements, and in the end the testimony was not clear,” District Judge Shannon Bacon said in announcing her directed verdict in favor of the NMAA.

Bacon said AHA did not meet “their burden of proof.”

Atrisco Heritage’s players and fan base have been fuming for a week, ever since an official’s error cost the Jaguars a chance at attempting a late field goal against St. Pius in the regular-season finale.

Following an incomplete pass and defensive penalty against St. Pius, the final 3.4 seconds of that game were run off the clock when they should not have been. AHA was lining up to kick when the game abruptly ended.

Had the Jaguars made that field goal, it is possible – but certainly not definite – that they would have been chosen for the playoffs.

“We knew we had a whole lot of work to do,” said Mary Carmack, the attorney who represented AHA’s parent group. “And we didn’t have a whole lot of evidence.”

Bacon was adamant that no court should arbitrate an on-field officiating decision.

“To agree with the plaintiffs that the courts can serve in that role would set a very bad precedent for high school teams, YAFL teams, little league, AYSO,” Bacon said. “Any kind of scholastic sporting team would say if you disagree with the call of a ref or umpire or some other official, that you don’t need to worry about it; you don’t need to live with the decision; that it is up to a court, ultimately, to decide that call, and that’s not the role of the Court.”

Said NMAA associate director Robert Zayas: “This is an extremely important result. It sets the precedent for not having an official’s decision overturned in a court of law.”

The NMAA did not even have to put on a defense. Although, Zayas said, the NMAA was prepared to do something it hasn’t done for anyone else – explain in detail how it chose and seeded teams.

“We were prepared to go ahead and provide detailed information pertaining to the criteria,” he said.

Two players and a parent were called to testify on AHA’s behalf. Bacon’s ruling ends the emotional fight.

“It was exhausting,” AHA coach Angel Castillo said. “But what makes me feel better is knowing that the seeding criteria and playoff systems are gonna get looked at and they’re gonna get fixed that will help a whole bunch of teams in a whole bunch of sports.”

Zayas was quick to contradict that, saying there is no plan to re-calibrate the selection/seeding formula.

“Absolutely not,” Zayas said. “If anything, this case gives us more of a foundation for using the criteria we’ve been utilizing. We’ll continue what we’ve been doing in the last year-and-a-half. We’re confident in the manner by which we seed and select teams for state championships.”
— This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal