Cedar Park Christian self-reported a recruiting violation after other schools in the disbanded Cascade Conference raised concerns over marketing materials used by the CPC junior football program.
CPC’s high school football program faces a one-year probation for the violation, but there will be no impact on practices, games or postseason.
The issue stems from CPC’s junior football program referring to Cedar Park football as a K-12 program in marketing materials such as internal brochures, fliers and a video linked to its website.
Though CPC’s K-12 school and the K-8 junior football program are both under the umbrella of Cedar Park Church, the junior football program is a separate entity from the high school’s team. By not distinguishing that clearly, there was concern among league rivals that the marketing materials could be used to recruit athletes to ultimately attend CPC and play high school football for the Eagles. That’s because while many players in the junior football program attend CPC, the program is also open to those who don’t attend the school.
“We have some new leadership as of January in the junior football program,” CPC athletic director Todd Lundberg said. “And gung-ho to build the program, they used some marketing material saying that Cedar Park is a K-12 football program … without using that junior moniker that the previous regime for junior football had done.”
In addition to the K-12 terminology, the brochures included a photo of high school head coach Butch Goncharoff. The video also included what appeared to be a high school-aged player, according to Sultan athletic director Scott Sifferman. Lundberg said he wasn’t sure whether the player in the video was in middle school or high school.
“You’ve got to make sure that there’s a clear line (between the high school and junior programs),” said Sifferman, who is president of the new North Sound Conference that includes Cedar Park Christian.
“And the way that it was marketed, it really emphasized (it being) one program. … When you’re a private school and your boundaries extend beyond normal school districts, you can understand that there’s going to be concerns if something like that comes to light.”
Even though the violation was committed by CPC’s youth football program, it likely garnered added attention because of Goncharoff’s past. The second-year CPC coach guided Bellevue to 11 Class 3A state titles in 16 years as the Wolverines’ head coach, but was removed from his job in 2016 after an investigation found the program had committed wide-ranging violations of state rules.
“Butch has been a great fit at our school from a standpoint of who we are as a Christian school and building up young men,” Lundberg said. “I and the other administrators have seen nothing from him other than concern for kids and wanting to do it the right way. And that’s why I think it’s just very unfortunate that this issue would sort of be attached to his name, when I think he’s just been nothing but aboveboard.”
After athletic directors from opposing Cascade Conference schools voiced their concerns during a May 31 meeting, CPC self-reported the violation the following day.
Lundberg said CPC’s junior football program has since corrected its marketing materials to differentiate itself from the high school program. He also said all future junior football marketing materials will be checked by the high school’s athletic department to ensure compliance.
CPC is one of five schools that left the disbanded Cascade Conference to form the North Sound Conference, an all-1A league that begins play this fall. The new six-team conference also includes Granite Falls, King’s, South Whidbey, Sultan and former Olympic League member Coupeville.
CPC’s varsity football team went 4-6 last season, including 1-4 in Cascade Conference play. The Eagles didn’t have enough players for a junior varsity team last year, and Lundberg said that likely will be the case again this season.
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