Elyria Catholic is back in the Division III regional basketball tournament.

EC officials and girls coach Eric Rothgery were told Thursday afternoon that South Euclid Regina would forfeit its Wednesday night victory over the Panthers because it used an ineligible player. Regina (22-2) defeated EC, 68-45, in a regional semifinal at Cuyahoga Falls.

Rothgery said he expected Regina to appeal before his team takes the court against Smithville of Wayne County at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the regional championship game. Phone calls to Regina athletic director John Schweickert and coach Pat Diulus seeking additional details were not immediately returned.

But the Plain Dealer’s Web site quoted Schweickert as saying the Ohio High School Athletic Association in Columbus found the girl to be ineligible because “paperwork on a player who transferred wasn’t sent in.” It also reported that Schweickert declined to identify the player.

Rothgery said EC school administrators were called by the OHSAA in midafternoon. He said his players were excited about getting another chance.

“It’s a great opportunity for us,” he said. “There’s nothing negative about it, and we’re looking forward to it. We’re at a little bit of a disadvantage because we didn’t practice today. But we also have an advantage. You know, it hurts to lose your last game of the season. But that pain stays with you all year. For us, the pain will be with us for only a couple of days.”

EC athletics director Barb Salata said the news came from Debbie Moore, associate commissioner of the OHSAA. Unless the decision is overturned before Saturday’s tipoff, the Panthers get a second shot at winning their first girls regional game. A victory over Smithville (24-1) would put them two wins away from the state championship.

Smithville’s only loss was by one point to Loudonville early in the season. Loudonville is the team EC (21-4) defeated 61-59 in overtime on Saturday to win the first girls basketball district title in school history. This year’s Panthers are also the first EC girls team to win 20 games.

“The girls are very excited,” Salata said. “It’s all anyone can talk about. I don’t think Ashley Schuster (the team’s 5-foot-11 junior post) has hit the ground yet.” Schuster and scoring leader Emily Taylor, also a junior, both scored 15 points against Regina on Wednesday night.

Regina’s Diulus is no stranger to controversy.

The Plain Dealer reported on Feb. 18 that the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office planned to present evidence to a grand jury to determine whether Diulus had the proper licensing to conduct fund-raising bingo games. Prosecutors contend Diulus didn’t have the proper licenses and used the games “to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for various basketball programs.”

His lawyer, David Grant, told the newspaper Diulus is trying to work things out with the prosecutors.

In February 2009, the OHSAA investigated a claim that Regina used an ineligible player in its one-sided rout of Brooklyn in the Division III district held in Wellington. It could have ended the season for the eventual-state champion Royals. But the school was cleared. The OHSAA reassigned Regina to the Ashtabula sectional-district this year.

Diulus, with nine, has won more girls state basketball championships than any other coach. His Regina teams have won six since 2000, including four straight from 2000-03. The Royals also won in 2005 and 2009.

Diulus also won three state titles at Trinity High School in Garfield Heights before that school asked him to step aside in August 1999.

In that case, The Plain Dealer reported, Diulus was asked to give up the coaching job and be reassigned to a job titled “coach-special consultant.” Diulus, the paper said, did not agree with the reassignment and resigned.

Regina will close at the end of the school year because of financial problems. Rumors persist that Diulus will be hired as girls basketball coach at Lake Ridge Academy in North Ridgeville and bring a number of his Regina players with him. An after-school-hours call to Lake Ridge athletics director Debby Ghezzi seeking comment on the rumors was taken by an automatic answering system.

Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.

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