Jayhawk announces juco football playoff changes after Butler forced to forfeit wins
The Butler Community College football team has been forced to forfeit all of its wins from the 2021 season, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference announced after the conclusion of the regular season and five days before the start of the conference playoffs.
It’s significant news considering Butler had just won 24-23 on the road over No. 10-ranked Garden City last weekend and finished the regular season with a 6-2 record and No. 14 national ranking in this week’s NJCAA poll. It had been an impressive bounce-back season under coach Tim Schaffner after Butler had posted a 2-4 record in the spring season.
Instead of being the No. 3 seed in the Jayhawk Conference playoffs and hosting a first-round game this Sunday, Butler — now considered to be 0-8 — is the No. 8 seed and travels to No. 1 seed Coffeyville, a 6-1 team ranked No. 7 nationally, which goes from facing a one-win Fort Scott team to battling a top-15 team in the opening round.
It drastically alters the postseason for every team in the conference, which now has a new opponent after two days of scouting and preparing for another team following Tuesday’s shuffling.
No explanation was given by the Jayhawk Conference or Butler on Tuesday on the reason why the Grizzlies had to forfeit, although The Butler County Times-Gazette reported it was due to the team using an ineligible player this season.
In addition to Butler traveling to Coffeyville, the new playoff pairings for Sunday’s slate include No. 2 Independence (6-1) hosting No. 7 Fort Scott (1-7), No. 3 Hutchinson (5-2) hosting No. 6 Highland (2-5) and No. 4 Garden City (5-2) hosting No. 5 Dodge City (3-4).
The conference championship game will be played at Riverfront Stadium in downtown Wichita, as the baseball field will be transformed into a football field for the 1 p.m. game on Sunday, November 21.
.jpg)