Ruling for Chatfield QB comes Friday ahead of Class AA state championship game

(ABC 6 News) – The family of a Chatfield football player filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota State High School League over his disqualification from the state championship game days before the game.

Junior quarterback for the Chatfield Gophers Sam Backer and his family filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn his suspension after being ejected from the semifinal game last week for unsportsmanlike conduct.

ABC 6 News reached out to the attorney of Backer and his parents.

A hearing was held Wednesday, Attorney Charlie Maier tells us the judge is aware of the game time on Friday for the gophers in the championship game.

After the hearing, the Twin Cities attorney told said the judge took the motion under advisement and told them she would issue a ruling by 10 a.m. on Friday.

The Class AA championship game is set for 1 p.m. the same day.

MSHSL officials issued two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Backer in last week’s semifinal game — one in the second quarter and another in the third.

The MSHSL’s bylaws state ‘following a second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, a player is to be ejected from the game and suspended from the next game in the series’ – which in this case would be the championship game on Friday at U.S. Bank stadium.

Superintendent of Chatfield schools Ed Harris tells ABC 6 News the lawsuit does not involve the district and that they have no comment on the matter.

MSHSL Communications Director Tim Lleighton issued a statement to ABC 6 News saying ‘the league does not comment on pending, threatened or existing litigation.’

Under MSHSL rules, the ejection carries an automatic disqualification from the game in which the penalties occured — which was the semifinal game and the following game, which is Friday when Chatfield plays West Central Area / Ashby for the Class AA state title.