This is a developing story. It will be updated with details from the Friday appeals hearing.
Three days after failing to convince a committee it deserves to be reinstated to the Florida High School Athletic Association state football playoffs, The First Academy will again appeal its case this morning — this time to the association’s 13-member board of directors.
TFA was expelled from the 2024 and ’25 playoffs last week when the FHSAA notified the Orlando private school it was found to have violated rules that prohibit recruiting and providing impermissible benefits to entice players from other schools.
TFA was placed on probation, fined and prohibited from playoff participation. The regional brackets are scheduled to be announced at 6 p.m. today.
FHSAA punishes First Academy football for rules violations
The FHSAA findings, signed by executive director Craig Damon, came after more than nine months of scrutiny before and after the Sentinel first reported in April that TFA was being investigated for wrongdoing. That story was published after former Royals baseball coach Scott Grove stepped down and accused the school of cheating.
Before that story broke, a number of Orlando area high school football coaches, some of whom lost players to First Academy, echoed Grove’s allegations.
The Royals gained more than 30 transfer players, some of whom the FHSAA said participated in spring football while they were enrolled at other schools.
TFA went 9-1 on the field, with its only loss coming to Rabun Gap-Nacoochee (9-2), a powerhouse Georgia boarding school that plays as an independent outside that state’s primary high school association. The Royals beat Orlando area powers Edgewater and Sanford Seminole and were prime state championship contenders as the No. 1 team in the FHSAA Class 1A power rankings before the sanctions were handed down. The penalties included forfeiture of all nine victories.
TFA school administrators, coaches, players and parents were in attendance at the association’s Gainesville headquarters for the Tuesday appeal in front of the FHSAA’s five-person Infractions Committee. Today’s hearing, as an emergency meeting of the board, will be a Zoom video conference.
The infractions committee did vote to subtract one of the findings of wrongdoing and reduce what was originally a $36,000 fine. And afterwards, Damon conferred with Frank Kruppenbacher, TFA’s chief attorney, and agreed to withdraw the finding that Royals assistant coach Steven Moffett violated Policy 37.1.1, which prohibits coaches (and other representatives of a school’s athletic interest) to contact athletes enrolled at other schools.
Moffett said under oath that he did not initiate contact with players who transferred to TFA.
Damon noted before Tuesday’s meeting that he did not rule players ineligible for mistakes made by adults.
“We didn’t penalize the kids,” he said. “They are all eligible to participate in other sports and next season. We penalized the school. State statute says recruiting is against our rules and should have penalties.”
Here is a list of rules violations cited on the FHSAA report:
• TFA allowed a 7on7 program (24k7v7) which some of its football coaches are involved in, to hold three December third-party events on campus without the required facility usage agreement in place for non-school activities. A number of players who transferred to First Academy participated in those sessions.
• 11 athletes not enrolled at TFA participated in summer football activities.
• Moffett, in his first season at the school, communicated with players prior to their enrollment at TFA. That violates recruiting rules. Moffett is a former Winter Park and UCF quarterback who left a head coaching job at Leesburg to join the TFA staff.
• A number of players, when filling out school applications, answered the question of “How did you hear about us?” with the words “Moffett,” “Athletic Director” and “Coach.” Coaches are not permitted to contact players from other schools.
• An unspecified representative of the school also reached out to players who were not enrolled.
• Moffett offered an Uber ride to school for a player not yet enrolled.
• Assistant coach Estander Maurepas participated in an outside September football clinic while wearing TFA school attire, which is not permitted.
Student-athlete names were redacted on the copy of the report requested by the Sentinel.
Varsity content Editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
