VHSL is threatening to ban Hayfield Football from the state playoffs for two years.

Hayfield Secondary School (Hayfield Hawks) varsity football team

Please help us tell VHSL to let the Hayfield Hawks Play!

VHSL, the governing body for Virginia High School athletics, is meeting to discuss potentially banning Hayfield Secondary School's Varsity Football team from the Virginia state playoffs without any reason or rational.

Hayfield parents have not bee told of any rule infractions or violations.

The Hayfield Football Team has not be told that they have to forfeit a game due to ineligible players participating.  

VHSL seems to be bending from outside pressure from individuals which has created negative news stories about the school and the head coach, Coach Darryl Overton, by spreading rumors and lies.

These false claims could not be further from the truth. We have never been more impressed with a coach and my sons have never been happier with a team or been more willing to work and sacrifice to help their team. My two sons on the team have played football since they were eight years old and told me that they have learned more about the game in the last year from Coach Overton and his coaching staff, than they have in the last seven years...and they had some great youth coaches.

As a parent, the bonding and brotherhood we’ve witnessed over the last eight months surpassed my expectations of what a child can gain from football. I’ve volunteered and attended many team functions. Team dinner is one of my favorite as all family members are invited together as we prepare for the game of the week. Coach Overton believes in tradition and a culture of community.

I cannot stress enough how much Coach Overton, his coaching staff and the new families have become important parts of the Hayfield community and how much they help and support our children and our school.

I created this petition to send to VHSL to show the Hayfield community's overwhelming support for our coaches, the Hayfield staff and our team AND to express our incredible anger over the potential post-season ban. 

Banning Hayfield from the state playoffs is extremely unfair and unjust to the kids on the team who have worked incredibly hard to become state championship contenders. Many of these young men are relying on the post-season play to help them fulfill their dreams of playing football in college.

VHSL is stealing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these young men. 

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS PETITION. 
TELL VHSL TO LET THE HAWKS PLAY!

#LETTHEHAWKSPLAY

Banning Hayfield Football from the State Playoffs would:

• Shatter the dreams of dozens of young men who did nothing wrong.
• Dissuade other top-notch coaches from coming to Virginia public schools, hurting the quality and competitiveness of Virginia football.
• Create terrible optics for the state of Virginia - as the most diverse school in the DMV, a ban creates the appearance VHSL is trying to make the playoffs easier for less diverse schools.

We should be building Virginia Football up. Not Tearing it Down. 

Background

In the spring of 2024, Hayfield Secondary School (Hayfield) hired Coach Darryl Overton as the new Hayfield Head Coach.  Coach Overton left his job at Freedom High School in Woodbridge, VA where he had just won two back-to-back Virginia 6A State Championships. Throughout the spring, new families moved into the Hayfield community and some of them previously attended Freedom HS and other schools in surrounding areas.

This caused a number of ill-reported stories in the Fairfax Times that parroted false rumors about the legality of these transfers. 

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) spent approximately half a million dollars on an independent investigation led by a former Virginia state attorney general. The investigation found that all claims against Hayfield coaches and staff were baseless and that all students had transferred legally and in accordance with current rules and regulations. The findings were reported in August before the start of the Virginia High School football season. 

In addition, VHSL conducted eligibility meetings from the end of August to the present day. Appeal hearings were held on a case-by-case basis that determined players eligible to play sports and a couple were found ineligible. Every football player on the roster is eligible per VHSL guidelines. Each family had an opportunity to share their personal reasons for moving and provided all requested supporting documentation. 

The Hayfield community at large though that this issue was over and done with and the parents of the team members, myself  included, focused our attention on our kids and our school as we should. 

Unfortunately, VHSL seems to be bending to outside pressure from individuals, not our community. Do not ruin the future of dozens of young men, because one or two people made more noise than the rest of us who just go about our lives.

Please sign this petition if you believe in fair play and want to see Virginia Public Schools and Virginia Students succeed on and off the field. 

We need more coaches and leaders in Virginia like Coach Overton, not less.