The First Academy has asked Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office and state legislators for support as it disputes findings by the Florida High School Athletic Association that the Royals violated rules prohibiting impermissible benefits for athletes.
The decision to challenge the FHSAA put the brakes on a ruling that would make five players ineligible and suspend new TFA assistant Steven Moffett from coaching for six weeks.
“Our ruling is suspended at this point,” FHSAA chief executive officer Craig Damon told the Sentinel on Thursday. “It’s pending an ongoing investigation.”
TFA, which is 4-0 going into a 6:30 p.m. home game Friday vs. also-undefeated Delray Beach Atlantic (4-0), has been under scrutiny since it gained more than 30 transfer football players in the offseason.
A number of Orlando area coaches have accused the Royals of recruiting athletes away from other schools. But Damon has said those complaints lack hard evidence.
On Friday the association provided the Sentinel with details from documents sent last week to TFA that stated Moffett “provided Uber rides to student-athletes, violating Policy 37.2.2.6.”
The FHSAA finding of facts also said five TFA players “received lunches purchased by the First Academy athletic department, violating Policy 37.2.2.12.”
The sanctions as listed call for the school to pay a $2,500 penalty and would make the five players named in the report ineligible to participate for First Academy until July 3, 2025.
Moffett, a former Winter Park assistant and UCF quarterback who was head coach for Leesburg last season, would be ineligible to coach or attend a high school football game at any level for six weeks.
Those penalties are on hold.
The Sentinel sent messages Friday morning to Royals second-year head coach Jeff Conaway, school sports information coordinator Bo Burgess, and TFA attorney Frank Kruppenbacher asking for updates on the case. No replies had been received as of the end of the school day.
Policy 37, in part, reads: “No school employee, athletic department staff member, representative of the school’s athletic interests or third parties, such as an independent person, business, or organization, may be involved, directly or indirectly, in giving an impermissible benefit to any student or any member of his/her family for the purpose of participating in interscholastic athletics.”
Policy 38 prohibits coaches from giving athletes free or reduced-cost transportation, or purchasing anything for them.
Kruppenbacher said in a written statement to the Sentinel last week that the FHSAA misinterpreted essential facts in its ruling. He said lunches were provided to athletes and students who are not on the football team due to “an unexpected closure of the student dining room.”
Coming off a 6-4 season in Conaway’s first year at the school, TFA was nowhere to be found in top-10 rankings entering the season. The Royals are now No. 3 in the Sentinel Super 16 area rankings and No. 4 in the FloridaHSfootball Class 1A media poll after reeling off wins against four teams that had top-10 status in the preseason.
Three weeks ago the Royals rallied to win 28-21 at 5A power Edgewater, then No. 2 in the Super 16, in the biggest win in school history. Last week they prevailed 42-6 over Melbourne Central Catholic, which was 2-0 and state-ranked in 1A.
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Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
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