Inglewood’s fate still up in the air

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It’s late in the day after Inglewood’s appeal of the Ocean League’s list of playoff entries, and the Sentinels still are not among the chosen.

League officials and members of the South Bay Athletic Assn. have been conferring for the last two days about the possibility of meeting to discuss Inglewood’s postseason prospects in the wake of a melee and subsequent suspension of the Sentinels’ regular season-ending game against Morningside on Friday at Coleman Stadium. But no date or time for the conference has been set.

According to Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons, the league has until Friday, the day of the first round of the Western Division playoffs, to make a change to its representation to the playoffs.

The hold-up, according to Jerry Chabola, the South Bay Athletic Assn. president and Culver City athletic director, is that he has not received the officiating crew’s written report on the game.

‘There’s nothing I want more than to do the right thing,’ Chabola said. ‘But I don’t want to schedule a meeting if I don’t have all the necessary information. If this had happened in the eighth or ninth week, the time frame would not be so dramatic.’

Time is of the essence not only because of upcoming playoffs, but also because school is not in session Monday in observance of Veterans Day, and if Inglewood is unhappy with the league’s decision, it has the right to appeal to the Southern Section office.

Even if the Sentinels do appeal to section officials, however, it is unclear if those officials would have any grounds to overturn Chabola’s decision because there is no rule in the Ocean League bylaws specifically addressing the suspension of a game for fighting and what to do about it with regard to league standings or playoff seedings.

‘It’s their league. We wouldn’t want anybody to come to us with any set recommendations, one way or another,’ Simmons said.

‘More than anything, what we would be looking at is, ‘Did the league not follow any of its rules or bylaws in making its determination.’ Until the league comes to us with anything different, we’re going to move forward.’

Required to turn in the league’s list of playoff entries by 9 a.m. Saturday, less than 24 hours after the incident, Chabola earmarked first-place Culver City, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills to advance to the postseason.

With no league rule specific to the situation, he made the entry list on the basis of his interpretation of another league rule stating that if two teams must forfeit to each other, the game shall not be replayed and each side is to be given a loss.

Beverly Hills had a 3-1 league record going into its last game against Culver City, while Santa Monica and Inglewood each had 2-2 records.

Santa Monica routed Hawthorne, 55-18, in its regular-season finale to secure no worse than third place in the league, but when Beverly Hills fell, 31-21, to Culver City, it left the Normans at 3-2 in league play and tied with Santa Monica for second.

Inglewood was leading, 16-6, when its game was stopped by referees with about eight minutes to play in the third quarter.

The Sentinels are looking for a victory over Morningside instead of a loss or a no-decision. If they get it, there would be a three-way tie with Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, prompting a series of coin tosses to determine the second- and third-place entrants into the playoffs.

Inglewood defeated Beverly Hills, 25-7, on Oct. 26 and lost to Santa Monica, 44-21, on Nov. 2.

-- Lauren Peterson