Montclair HS Football Team Ineligible For Playoffs Due To ‘Oversight’

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The Montclair High School football team must forfeit its wins this year, and is ineligible for the state playoffs due to an “administrative oversight,” officials announced Friday.

The situation involves an academically ineligible student, according to Superintendent Jonathan Ponds. He offered more details in a message to the school community:

“We learned last night that an academically ineligible student was allowed to play for the Montclair High School football team this season due to an administrative oversight. We immediately reported the situation to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, which informed us that the team has to forfeit its wins this year and is therefore ineligible for the state playoffs, including tonight's game against Ridgewood. We are working with the state to determine if there are other possible solutions. A report is generated by the athletic director before the season for each of our sports teams that lists ineligible players, and we are actively investigating why the oversight occurred. We are incredibly disappointed for our team and very proud of the hard work and commitment of our players, head coach, and his staff.”

Ridgewood’s co-head coach previously told NJ.com that Friday night’s North Jersey, Section 2, Group 5 state tournament football game between Ridgewood and Montclair will not be played due to undisclosed reasons.

A spokesperson for the NJSIAA released a statement about the situation to Patch on Friday:

“Montclair High School self-reported a situation involving use of an ineligible student-athlete. As a result, by rule, their record will be updated to include multiple forfeits, including tonight’s first-round state championship tournament game against Ridgewood High School. Ridgewood High School has been notified that they will advance to the 2nd round of the state championship tournament.”

HOW WAS THE INFO SHARED?

A district spokesperson said that Montclair was notified about the situation on Thursday night by former football coach John Fiore, who was replaced by Jermain Johnson earlier this year.

“We're looking into how and why Coach Fiore accessed the student's personal information, when he got access, and why our athletic director's pre-season report did not flag the student's ineligibility,” the spokesperson told Patch in a statement.

Fiore's attorney has since disputed that statement, calling it "100 percent false."

"Mr. Fiore did not, nor could he, access any student record from Montclair High School," he said. "Mr. Fiore left his employment at Montclair to pursue a new opportunity at Elizabeth High School. He is still friends with the coaches that remain at Montclair and more importantly, he still cares for his former student athletes and wishes them nothing but the best."

The "false representation" gives the perception that Fiore somehow reported Montclair for some alleged ineligible player, his attorney added.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said.

Fiore's attorney continued:

"To be clear, Mr. Fiore received an anonymous telephone call yesterday afternoon (October 27, 2022) from an unknown male with a blocked number who asked what Mr. Fiore knew about Montclair playing an ineligible player this season (2022). Mr. Fiore asked who the person was but this person refused to tell him. Mr. Fiore then told this person that he has not coached at Montclair for 2 years and had no idea what this person was talking about. When Mr. Fiore attempted to get this person’s number after the call by dialing *69, it did not come up because it was blocked. Mr. Fiore then contacted Montclair to advise of a weird call he just received. This is the full extent of Mr. Fiore’s involvement in this issue."

Fiore's attorney demanded a retraction and public apology. "This is simply not true and there is absolutely no basis for these comments," he said.

Reached for reaction, the school district's spokesperson had this to say, which seemingly walks back the previous statement:

"Based on our discussions today, we aren't able to determine how a student's academic information was shared."

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site. Don’t forget to visit the Patch Montclair Facebook page.