Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It was sweet revenge Tuesday night as the Bennett Tigers played iin protest and won a big game against McQuaid High School 26-14. Bennett now advances to the next game in Syracuse Saturday.
It was the culmination of a long several days that say a judge Tuesday morning order this past weekend's postponed football playoff matchup between McQuaid and Bennett to be played Tuesday evening. Saturday's game was postponed because of COVID-19 outbreaks among McQuaid players.
McQuaid reported as many as 10 players who had tested positive for COVID-19. McQuaid obtained a court order that stated the health regulations were an overreach, although both Erie and Monroe County health regulations would have prevented the game from being played under the conditions.
However, with the players under quarantine who were unvaccinated and deemed as close contacts testing negative on Monday and Tuesday, they have tested out of quarantine and are now eligible to return.
"Our players on McQuaid have been tested and found to be free from COVID-19 on five different occasions," said trial lawyer Terry Connors, who represented McQuaid on Tuesday. "In addition, they have exceeded the quarantine requirements so that they are in compliance now, as has been recognized last evening by the [Erie County] Department of Health. Our only regret is that it took us the requirement to bring orders to show cause to determined exactly what we said during the course of our conversations with the county."
While McQuaid was without an unspecified number of players for Tuesday's game, there was no county ruling in place that would have avoided any of the players who tested out of quarantine to play in the contest. The testing out of quarantine protocol was adopted by Erie County in mid-to-late October.
"Their last close contact, as a team, was a practice on Monday, Nov. 15. They shut down all activities after Monday, Nov. 15. They then had a walk-thru practice on Friday outside," said County Attorney Jeremy Toth, representing the Erie County Department of Health and Dr. Gale Burstein. "I gave all of that information to the Erie County Department of Health, and they determined, based on that information, that the last close contact for those players was the 15th. Everybody got out their calendar, counted on their fingers and got to last night being the last day of quarantine for those players, even the unvaccinated ones."
As for the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, they stand by their decision to postpone the originally scheduled game on Saturday until the matter was sorted out in the court.
"We feel like we were confined to the temporary restraining order," said NYSPHSAA Executive Director, Robert Zayas. "We wanted to avoid, and we certainly wanted to respect Erie County Department of Health Directives that were provided to us on Friday pertaining to how, and under what perimeters McQuaid could come in a play on Saturday. We're always going to respect the Erie County Department of Health and our local departments of health in their directives."
While NYSPHSAA established a protocol back in early September saying it would not be postponing any games this season, Zayas says they feel like they had choice but to postpone this game due to the circumstances that unfolded with the temporary restraining order being issued on Saturday.
The association says it has no plans or inquiries to try and have the game not be played Tuesday night.
Buffalo Schools Superintendent Kriner Cash was not happy about the postponement, instead of the game being forfeited to Bennett. "This is fast unfolding as a racial injustice and inequity issue," said Cash in a statement released by the district late Sunday. "I will not tolerate, under any circumstance, victimizing and discounting our student athletes when they have followed all the rules pursuant to this matter."
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wben/news/local/mcquaid-bennett-game-a-racial-injustice-and-inequity-issue" headline="McQuaid-Bennett postponement "a racial injustice and inequity issue" says Buffalo Schools chief" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=63630939"]Following the decision, Buffalo Schools, Bennett High School officials as well as Mayor Byron Brown reacted in anger to the decision and situation that has unfolder over the past several days.
District Legal Counsel Nathaniel Kuzma called the decision in court Tuesday a "miscarriage of justice" and hinted at an appeal to NYSPHSAA.
"This became about football at all costs," said Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash who said the situation is pathetic and should never happen again. Cash calls the legal maneuvering an instance of 'white privilege'.
Both Cash and School Board member Sharon Belton-Cottman are calling out the Erie County Department of Health and Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein. "How do you have two sets of guidelines in a county," exclaimed Belton-Cottman. "Dr. Gale Burstein, Erie County Department of Health, provided a set of guidelines for someone to come in here with a toxic team and then had the audacity to say if it was Bennett, they would have to wait 10 days if they had a case."
School Board President Lou Petrucci was also standing with the Bennett Tigers at midfield at All-High Stadium Tuesday afternoon and said the game will be played but will be played "under protest".
