Court order puts East St. Louis back in Illinois football playoffs

A temporary restraining order granted Thursday by Judge Richard Aguirre of the St. Clair County 20th Judicial Court has put the East St. Louis High School football team back in the Illinois playoffs, which begin tonight.

Earlier this week, the Illinois High School Association ordered five of East St. Louis' nine wins this year and all 10 wins from 2009 to be forfeited following an investigation that looked at the residency of senior defensive lineman Charles Tigue. A forfeiture of five wins meant East St. Louis did not qualify for the playoffs, and IHSA changed its Class 7A playoff schedule to not include the Flyers.

Aguirre's ruling followed an appeal hearing in which the IHSA Board of Directors sustained the decision of executive director Marty Hickman to force the forfeitures. The IHSA changed the Class 7A schedule again following the court decision, and East St. Louis, a No. 1 seed with a 9-0 record, will play Bellville West at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

"We are disappointed with the judge's ruling," Hickman said in a statement. "However, the judge indicated that if we provided East St. Louis Senior High School with additional due process, we can make a second ruling on this issue."

Aguirre gave the IHSA until Friday to appeal his ruling. Hickman said the IHSA had not yet decided on that.

It was not immediately clear whether Tigue, who is facing armed robbery charges, would be eligible to play in Saturday's game. He had been ruled ineligible by the IHSA in late September and did not play in the Flyers' last four games.

The IHSA, Hickman said, is still investigating the residency of Tigue's teammate, Anthony Pierson.