OKLAHOMA CITY – Controversy over a high school football game in Oklahoma that drew the attention of state lawmakers ended this week when the state’s school activities association decided to let a bad call stand.

Oklahoma state Sen. Anastasia Pittman

The Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association voted 8-3 Wednesday to deny an appeal by Douglass High School to correct an improper call that lead to its 20-19 defeat in the Class 3A quarterfinal game against Locust Grove High School last Friday, NewsOK.com reports.

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The ruling comes despite a request by state Sen. Anastasia Pittman to the OSSAA to replay all or part of the game, a move backed by community and religious leaders, as well as the NAACP.

Fox23 reports:

The call in question occurred after OKC Douglass scored a go-ahead touchdown to give them a 25-20 lead with 1:04 left to play in the game.  However, an official threw a flag on Douglass for a sideline violation, their second such penalty in the game.  Rules call for a 5 yard penalty to be added to the extra point try or to the kickoff.  Instead, officials enforced the penalty to the previous play and erased the 58 yard touchdown. The call gave Locust Grove back a 20-19 lead, which they held to win the game.

The OSSAA apologized for the bad call, but refused to change it, or to allow the teams to replay all or part of the game at a special meeting Wednesday.

At a press conference held by Pittman before OSSAA’s special meeting, she and other African American leaders suggested that the bad call is part of a pattern of “bias” against minority teams.

“Our communities have been informed, and they are enraged,” Pittman said. “What we’re trying to do is be proactive instead of reactive. We want to be engaged in the process, we want to learn more about the policies, and hopefully, we can be of assistance in rectifying this and preventing it from occurring again.

“This is not the first incident that has occurred with Douglas High School, and we want to make sure it doesn’t become a pattern. We want you to know we’re watching, we’re waiting, and we’re ready to take action.”

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Then there was this awkward exchange, as reported by NewsOK:

Pittman was asked what other incidents to which she was referring, and as she mentioned a disputed call in the playoff loss that knocked Douglass out of the playoff, Dr. K. Gerone Free, pastor of Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church, stepped forward. Several local pastors as well as a representative of the Oklahoma City chapter of the NAACP were in attendance.

Free: “(Star) Spencer (High School) has been cheated several times.”

Pittman: “Star Spencer has been on the list. It’s more than one high school. Mainly, they were African-American high schools, predominantly black high schools that felt like they were oppressed by officiating that was implemented and misguided.”

Free: “Star Spencer has been cheated out of some games that happened up near the Tulsa area as well as Northeast in basketball a couple years ago was cheated. The issue for me as a pastor is, I teach faith, and it’s hard for these young people to understand faith in a system that continues to come against them when anyone can look at a game and tell that some of the stuff that happens is not right. So, it has happened on more than several occasions since I’ve been back in Oklahoma City.”

Reporter: “Are you suggesting racism on the part of officials?”

Free: “I don’t want to use the word racism. I just simply want to say that there is certainly an injustice that seems to happen when it comes to schools in this city which are predominantly minority, particularly minority. When you look at our school system here in Oklahoma City, the majority of them have African-American and Hispanic kids.”

Reporter: “That’s suggesting racism.”

Pittman: “It’s suggesting a bias because it could be two African-American schools playing against each other. So, it depends on the circumstances. It depends on the application of when those rules were called, how they were called.”

 Needless to say, Pittman wasn’t happy about the OSSAA’s decision.

“How do you teach kids on faith and tell them to do the right thing when you have adults who govern this very thing we call extracurricular activity, but they won’t do the right thing?” she said after the decision, according to KFOR.com.

Locust Grove officials, of course, were pleased with the outcome.

“That unfairness and misapplication of the rule I think is a necessary evil in sports,” Locust Grove attorney Matt Cyran told KFOR. “As long as humans are involved in sports, there will be mistakes. So ultimately, it is fair.”

On Thursday, Douglass supporters were able to convince a judge to issue a temporary restraining order that prevents Locust Grove from moving forward with its scheduled semifinal game against Heritage Hall High School.

That judge is expected to hear arguments next Thursday over whether or not Douglass and Locust Grove will replay the controversial game, KFOR reports.