Chaotic.

Is there a better term right now to describe the situation with high school sports in West Virginia, where the start — and the matchups — of both the football playoffs and the small-school volleyball tournament remain in doubt?

Who would have imagined that, in 2024, local judges would be asked by county boards of education to order the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission to not only change its rating system to determine the playoffs pairings, but also to determine exactly which teams make postseason play?

Who would have imagined that these judges — elected by voters in counties with schools being impacted by this mess that is entirely of the SSAC’s making — would order the SSAC to change the classification for a school at the end of the season, as the playoffs already were underway? Or that another judge would order an entire new round of play-in games for football?

Who would have imagined that on Nov. 12 — days before the football playoffs were set to begin — the SSAC would suspend the games entirely until this legal morass is made clear?

Yet that’s exactly what has happened.

“We are extremely disappointed to not be having the playoffs this weekend. We understand the frustration from all of the parties involved, and we want nothing more than to put the focus back on the student-athletes and their pursuit of a championship. However, we must abide by the decisions of the courts and their timeline,” SSAC Executive Director David Price said.

There are two sports at issue here: Football and volleyball. First, a recap of football.

When football moved to four classes, Class A through AAAA, it created what some saw as an imbalance, particularly among the big schools. The SSAC allowed 22 schools to reclassify before the season began, meaning playoff points through Friday were based on a school’s classification during the season. However, the Wood County Board of Education received an injunction forcing the SSAC to rate schools based on how they were classified before August, meaning playoff pairings changed and four schools that initially made the football playoffs were excluded and four other teams would play.

Since then, a judge in Mason County weighed in and ordered play-in games for at least two of the four schools excluded from the playoffs: Hampshire and Point Pleasant. It’s not even clear the judge has the authority to make such a ruling. More legal action could follow. It appears the matter may have to be decided by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

In volleyball, the controversy centers around Tyler Consolidated High School. On Oct. 30, a circuit judge ordered Tyler, which had been in Class AA all season, to be reclassified and eligible for the Class A volleyball sectional tournament. Play already had finished in that sectional, though, and both Tyler and St. Marys agreed to a play-in game, with the winner to face Trinity High School for the regional crown.

Tyler won that matchup, but Trinity received a court order to have it play St. Marys instead of Tyler. St. Marys won that game, but due to the conflicting court orders, the Class A state volleyball tournament, which had been set to begin Tuesday, was delayed.

This entire situation is a mess. It’s one that could have been avoided had local school districts sought clarity on the ratings system during the season — not when the pairings were released. It’s also one in which the SSAC needs to take a long look in the mirror. This is a created problem that sits entirely at that organization’s doorstep.