Harper Woods Chandler Park Academy’s football team is 4-4, and if it doesn’t play a game this week, it will qualify for the state playoffs.
So, Chandler Park is not playing a game this week, no matter how many hits the school’s reputation takes.
“Never had one scheduled,” football coach and athletic director John Jergovich said. “Eight-game schedule this year.”
Really?
Earlier this week, the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s website had Chandler Park playing Friday at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, a member of the Detroit Catholic High School League.
“Must have been a misprint or something,” Jergovich said. “No contract, no nothing.”
Catholic League director Vic Michaels said he had a two-game agreement with Jergovich. Chandler Park would play at Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Week 3 and receive $2,000, and in Week 9 would play the fourth-place team in Double A, which wound up being Cranbrook.
“I agreed to play Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Week 3,” Jergovich said, “and that’s what I did.”
He insisted Cranbrook was never on the MHSAA calendar as an opponent. That calendar is the only one that matters, but it is worth noting that multiple websites list Chandler Park visiting Cranbrook at 7 p.m. Friday, including michigan-football.com (by conference and by each school), and MaxPreps.com.
“I’ve never seen a game for Week 9 for us,” he said. “Swear to God.”
Jergovich may want to be careful about to whom he is swearing because we’re talking about the Catholic League here.
“He’s lying about a bunch of things,” Michaels said.
