NCAA Eligibility Center

Athletics Announcement  (check also the Digital Sports page at the top) Guidelines for CMS high school stadiums and gymnasiums: All spectators at games must wear shoes, shirts, and pants/shorts/skirts. No costumes or face masks are allowed. Face paint should not in any way disguise the identity of the spectator. All 'hand-held accessories' are prohibited.   These rules are in effect for school age children through adults These rules apply to regular season AND playoff games CMS announces improvements to athletic-eligibility system Changes include honor codes, better training and a whistleblower e-mail and phone line.  Read the article. Sportsmanship Required CMS Schools increase penalties for unacceptable conduct at games.  Check out the story... Click here to read the CMS Eligibility Requirements!

Big I Football! The Patriots have an unbelievable winning tradition that includes:   - Going undefeated  in the 2008 regular season (13-1 overall) -Consistently being ranked in the Top 100 in the country (or top .005 percent) out of almost 19,000 high schools (45th as of Dec. 3, 2008) on Rivals.com. -Winning  7 of the last 9 State Championships -a 109 straight game winning streak -We have the best coaches and players anywhere!    Go Patriots! _______________________________ Congratulations to the 2007 and prior Patriots' Football Team on their 109 straight wins!  The streak has now ended*  but it stands on record as the 2nd longest in U.S. history.    Also, the teams won 7 straight 4AA State Championships! _______________________________ (the following was written at the end of the 2007 season)   How good are they?  This season they were 13 and 3* and have an eight year record of 123 wins and 4 losses.   *One loss to Elder in double overtime, a one point loss to Butler (who they beat in the playoffs 20-7 and the championship game. They won 81.25% of their games this year and have an eight year winning percentage of 97%. Winning more games than any other Char/Meck school has played, since the beginning in 2000. Seven straight championships, something I may not live long enough to see again. Holding the public school record for consecutive wins at 109, winning, about 50% more games than the previous record.  (thanks to Mr. Pickering for this info) Can't beat that! _______________________________ *On Saturday, Sept. 1st, 2007, the team competed in the Burger King/Kirk Herbstreit Ohio vs. USA Challenge.  The team played a great game, but was defeated by Elder (Cincinnati, Ohio) in overtime 41 - 34. Regardless, the Patriots represented the BIG I very well and we are SO proud of them!

Dedication of baseball field in Memory of Coach John Matthews The Independence High School baseball field was dedicated in Memory of the late John W. Matthews. Coach Matthews was a long time teacher and coach at Independence.  He coached here from 1979-1994 and in October the CMS Board of Education agreed to honor the request of the Matthews family to have the field named after him. The dedication took place on Wed. March 5.  A sign was placed on the pressbox renaming the field to the Coach John W. Matthews field.