Ordeal helped Arlington Bowie focus, bond, players say

By Shawn Smajstrla

Special to the Star-Telegram

Wesley Thomas had just returned from Midland, where his team rolled to a 31-14 victory in its Class 5A Division I area clash with El Paso Franklin, when his father told him the news.

"When I heard, it was just devastating," the senior defensive back from Arlington Bowie said. "I thought that was it. I didn't know we had a chance to get back from it."

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Ranked survivors

Arlington Bowie's opponent, DeSoto, is among the seven 5A playoff teams remaining from the last regular-season Associated Press state poll.

1.	Katy	12-0
2.	DeSoto	12-0
3.	Cibolo Steele	12-0
5.	Abilene	12-0
6.	Allen	11-1
7.	Southlake Carroll	11-1
9.	Dallas Skyline	11-1

Out: No. 4 Coppell, No. 8 Lake Travis, No. 10 Smithson Valley.

Arlington Bowie's success surprises even its head coach

The news was that the UIL was investigating his school for potentially having used an ineligible player.

"I was seeing a lot of stuff on Twitter, so I didn't really know what to believe," Thomas explained. "But when we got back to school on Monday, they filled us in on everything that had happened. They had the athletic director come in and explain everything."

The explanation was that certain paperwork, a Parent Residence Waiver to be exact, wasn't properly submitted. However, Volunteers coach Kenny Perry was confident that all the procedures had been followed.

"We followed all the right protocols," Perry told the Star-Telegram on Monday. "The kid transferred weeks ago, we submitted paperwork to the District Executive Committee, and they approved him."

The issue was apparently the missing waiver, which Arlington school district officials were initially told wouldn't be necessary. The proper documentation was submitted retroactively and the Volunteers (11-1) were cleared to move forward. They'll face DeSoto (12-0) on Saturday at Pennington Field.

But for at least a couple of days, there was uncertainty hovering over the Bowie players.

"When I first heard, I was shocked and scared. I thought we were going to get eliminated," senior cornerback Steve Wesley said. "I called coach Perry, it was about 2 in the morning, but he just told me don't worry about it, we've got it under control and just focus on this week's game.

"There was most definitely a sense of panic," Wesley said. "We knew coach Perry was going to take care of it, but there's always going to be that fear that you just never know."

Regardless of whether they might have been panicked inside, the players approached preparations as though their season didn't hang in the balance.

"Monday morning when we practiced, nothing seemed different to me," Perry said. "But these kids have been like this all year. We've gone through a bunch of different issues. ...I'm sure inside when they heard [that we had been cleared] they were probably jubilated, but there was no difference in their preparation."

Thomas feels the whole ordeal might have even sparked preparations a bit and given them extra focus. In addition to the team having an extra step at practice following the official announcement, it gave the team another reason to circle the wagons.

"It'll definitely stay with us," he said. "It helped us bond over the time that we've been challenged by this."

"It was a little distracting, but it wasn't a major distraction for us," Thomas added. "It may have thrown us off a little bit, but we bounce back quick."

The uncertainty also affected DeSoto, which was already a day behind Bowie because the Eagles played on Saturday.

"It set us back, it really did, and it was not good," lamented Eagles coach Claude Mathis. "We usually break down game film so we can put a game plan together on Sunday, but we couldn't do it."

For Perry, the frustrating part has little to do with an impact on preparations for their upcoming playoff game, but more about some misperceptions it may have created.

"I run a clean program and our kids are great kids," he said. "Perception isn't everything, but I care what people think about our kids and program. You don't want stuff like that out there.

"That was the main thing, was just trying to get people to understand exactly what was going on."

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