Sabbath could end Jewish school's playoff run

HOUSTON — A Texas agency has turned down a request by an Orthodox Jewish school in Houston to reschedule a championship game potentially involving its boys' basketball team because the game time falls during the Sabbath.

The Beren Academy advanced to the semifinals in the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools' 2A tournament with a 23-5 record and was scheduled to play Dallas Covenant at 9 p.m. on Friday.

Beren players observe the Sabbath between Friday night and Saturday night and won't play basketball during those hours.

The academy appealed to TAPPS to have the game time moved, but the agency's nine-member board unanimously voted it down.

Dallas Covenant will instead play Kerrville Our Lady of the Hills, the team that Beren defeated in the regional final. The Beren team, meanwhile, will continue practicing this week, hoping that TAPPS moves the game time to earlier Friday.

"They say the inconvenience of rescheduling the games outweighs any other factors," Beren coach Chris Cole said Tuesday. "I don't know where that decision goes. That's a decision for people who are a little higher than I am. The main thing for us is to do the best we can, keep working hard and just be hopeful. We feel like it's still Tuesday, and things can still happen."

TAPPS director Ed Burleson said Tuesday that he doesn't expect the agency to reverse course. He has received hundreds of emails and phone calls, some from as far away as Canada, accusing him of bigotry and anti-Semitism since word spread of the decision.

Burleson said the decision had nothing to do with religion, but rather has to do with the organization's longstanding policy not to change the playoffs date — a rule that has been in place since TAPPS' inception in 1978.

Beren joined TAPPS last year, and Burleson said the school was told then to not expect TAPPS to adjust its postseason schedule.

"We think it's clear-cut," Burleson said. "They were advised, up front, that TAPPS would not change that, and they chose to join TAPPS anyway. There was never any indication from TAPPS that their appeal would be approved."

Cole, the coach since the 2002-03 season, acknowledged that he was aware of the possibility of such scheduling conflicts but was still hoping TAPPS would make an exception.