JACKSON TWP — While Seneca Valley’s boys basketball team battles for its playoff life in Section 1-6A, one of the top scoring threats in the WPIAL sits on its bench.

David Ritchie, a 6-foot-2 shooting guard, practices with the Raiders every day. He is on the bench with the squad every game.

He just can’t play.

“David is a great kid, a great teammate,” SV coach Victor Giannotta said. “It’s like he’s a red-shirt.”

Ritchie averaged 21.8 points per game as a sophomore at Eden Christian Academy last year. He was a first team all-section player and among the top three scorers in all of WPIAL Class A.

A resident of Cranberry Township, he transferred to Seneca Valley prior to this school year. He was declared ineligible by the WPIAL to play basketball for the Raiders this season.

The WPIAL ruled that Ritchie transferred out of athletic intent. That decision was upheld by the PIAA.

Ritchie will be eligible to play for the Raiders next season.

“I respect the process and abide by the decisions made by the WPIAL and PIAA,” Seneca Valley athletic director Heather Lewis said.

“I’m aware of all of the rules and by-laws that may apply here. These were closed-door meetings, not open to the public. It would be inappropriate for me to offer an opinion on the matter.”

Though Ritchie is attending the public school of his residential area, PIAA spokesperson Melissa Mertz said the PIAA Board of Appeal found that his transfer was athletically motivated based on Article VI, Section 4, Paragraph E8 of the association’s bylaws.

That bylaw states that a student-athlete is ineligible to play if the “student or a parent or guardian, or an adult with whom the student resides, desires that the student play on a more successful, larger enrollment classification and/or higher profile team to gain a higher level of competition and/or more exposure to college scouts.”

Ritchie’s father, also named David, is a former college basketball coach at Garrett Community College and Urbana (Ohio). He now lives in Dallas, Texas.

The younger Ritchie lives with his mother and stepfather. All three declined comment for this story.

“I’m disappointed for my son because I know how much he loves basketball and works on his game,” Mr. Ritchie said. “He’s a 3.7 (grade point) student, too. Losing his junior season could affect his college recruiting, certainly.

“He’ll still have his AAU season and his senior high school season, and he’s still getting the coaching. It’s just hard to understand why he can’t play. He’s attending the public school where he lives.”

Mr. Ritchie added that his son “is a gym rat who wants to be excellent.”

Giannotta said Ritchie was never sought by Seneca Valley as a student-athlete.

“There was no recruiting done here at all,” the coach said. “I didn’t even know who the kid was until he showed up here.

“This issue is all about the kid. He’s being denied an extra-curricular activity in his hometown school. There’s no consistency to these eligibility rules. A bunch of adults are on these boards and do these meetings to determine whether a kid can play for his high school team ... It’s not right.”

Giannotta cited other recent transfer cases involving athletes now at Moon, Fort Cherry and Aliquippa, among others, who were all cleared to play.

“And here this (Ritchie) kid lives at home and can’t play — and he’s done nothing wrong,” Giannotta said.

Eden Christian Academy principal and boys basketball coach Todd Aiken said “I wish David well,” adding that he’s “a great kid.”