Capital Christian Center sues Sac-Joaquin Section over prep football postseason ban
Capital Christian Center, the congregation that oversees Capital Christian High School, has filed a lawsuit in Sacramento Superior Court accusing the region’s governing body on high school sports of violating its constitutional rights, including due process.
The Aug. 20 lawsuit against the California Interscholastic Federation’s Sac-Joaquin Section stems from a July 29 announcement that Capital Christian High’s football team would be barred from postseason play because of its participation with an unsanctioned club football team during the spring.
The school’s leaders argue in their lawsuit that the section and its commissioner, Mike Garrison, “arbitrarily and discriminatorily” reached a decision without a hearing and without weighing evidence.
As a result of the CIF section’s postseason ban, Capital Christian says, students are seeking transfers or are not enrolling at the private school. According to the lawsuit, Capital Christian wants the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the section’s sanctions. The school is also seeking unspecified financial damages.
“These penalties are having an immediate impact of plaintiff’s ability to operate its school and athletic programs,” the lawsuit says. “Specifically, the public announcement of these penalties before any hearing is completed has already caused numerous students to seek to transfer to new schools and others to never enroll because they fear CCHS will not be allowed to play football under CIF-SJS/Garrison’s decision. This is crippling CCS and its athletic programs.”
In late July, the section banned Capital Christian from postseason football this season and next season because of the school’s involvement with the club league. The school has appealed the section’s ruling. The appeal will be heard by a third party, Garrison said in a phone interview Wednesday. Beyond that, he said he couldn’t talk about the lawsuit.
“What I can tell you is we’re in the middle of our appeals process,” he said. “So we’re just following our standard processes that we have in place for this.”
Capital Christian’s fight with the Sac-Joaquin Section dates back to February and March, when the school’s athletic facilities were leased to a club football team. The club team played games seemingly in violation of state and county health orders relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
In the lawsuit, Capital Christian offers a defense of its involvement in the club games.
The stadium, restrooms and locker rooms were leased on Jan. 25 to the CAPS League and the Cap City Cougars club football team. Cap City was a member of the 14-club CAPS League that played in seeming defiance of coronavirus regulations. The facilities were leased for $1,500 a month, according to the lawsuit. The league and team agreed to follow all state guidelines, according to Capital Christian.
The lawsuit provides some level of insight into the school’s involvement with the club team.
In its filing, Capital Christian Center distanced itself and the school from the actions of athletic staff — the congregation argues the athletic program and school principal were not involved with the lease to the club football team, and therefore the section was out of bounds in imposing sanctions against the school itself.
But the congregation was more than a landlord. According to the suit, Capital Christian Center also agreed to lease football helmets, pads and equipment to the Cap City team for $500 for the length of the season.
“Cap City had approximately 34 kids playing for the 19 and under team, approximately 14 of whom were CCHS student athletes/football players. Approximately 47.8% of the athletes on Cap City had no connection to CCHS,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also says incoming head coach Saul Patu was among the 17 club coaches; athletic director Aaron Garcia was also a coach on the team. Both coaches had kids on the team, the lawsuit said.
Patu defended his involvement with the club team, during an interview with The Bee for an unrelated story.
“The collective wisdom (with input from players, families, school members) is what we could do for the kids, club, and that’s what we did,” Patu said at the time. “The CIF didn’t feel that we did it by the rules, but we felt that we did. ... We’re not football fanatics who are so crazy for football that we put kids in harm’s way.”
The club football team’s play rankled many in the Sacramento area as teams from every other high school were still not practicing or playing games during the pandemic. Criticism was amplified after highlights from a Feb. 20 game appeared on the high school team’s MaxPreps page. The video was mistakenly uploaded by a parent, the school said in the suit.
The lawsuit also details a schism that formed in the Capital Athletic League as a result of Capital Christian’s play in the club league. Del Campo High School principal Greg Snyder serves as the president of the seven-school division and issued a guidance to its schools that they should not play Capital Christian in the state’s abbreviated high school spring season nor league’s current fall season.
“The principals/directors took a vote last week and voted unanimously to not play Capital Christian this year in football. Capital Christian will not be placed on the league football schedule for the 2020-21 school year and we will reserve time in the future to discuss participation in the league as CIF looks into these concerns,” Snyder said in an email, according to the lawsuit.
Capital Christian Center says no such vote took place.
The congregation’s suit also repeatedly mentions that other schools had football players on the club team playing on its field. And the lawsuit says the section and Garrison refused to discuss the center’s lease agreements with the club team. The lease agreements, Capital Christian said, are not outlawed by any section rule and, therefore, the punishment was unfair.
“This ‘Summary of Decision/Findings’ does not cite a single rule, bylaw or previously disclosed ‘expectation’ prohibiting a school’s owner (or even a school) from renting facilities or equipment to a club team and prohibiting students and/or staff from being involved with a club team,” the lawsuit says. “That is because there are no rules, bylaws or previously disclosed ‘expectations’ prohibiting this conduct.”
Two other schools in the section, Ripon Christian and Stone Ridge Christian, were also put on probation and are not eligible for football playoffs this year.
Officials from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section did not immediately respond to questions about the suit.
This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 11:56 AM.