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MECHANICSBURG &#8212; Jules and Damon Beckhorn were shut out once again in their attempt to play football at Berwick, this time by the PIAA Board of Directors.A skeleton crew from the board voted 5-0 against the brothers at an appeal hearing Wednesday, backing a 10-0 decision by the District 2 athletic committee at a hearing in June. Both rulings found the Beckhorns transferred from Nanticoke to Berwick in part for athletic purposes.The PIAA board also agreed with District 2&#8217;s decision to allow the brothers to participate in other sports at Berwick. The Beckhorns will be banned from football at Berwick until April 20, 2016, the date of their transfer. Damon Beckhorn saw some time with the Nanticoke basketball team as a freshman last season.The Beckhorns and their mother and stepfather &#8212; Laura and Elijah Taylor &#8212; left immediately after the decision and were unavailable for comment.&#8220;We believe this was wrongly decided based on heresay contained within a Facebook post that nobody has been able to establish that it was written by Damon,&#8221; said attorney Steven Hoffman, who represented the family. &#8220;It couldn&#8217;t be proven, and he denies he wrote that.&#8221;The Facebook post allegedly written by Damon Beckhorn read, &#8220;Berwick football coach on my couch talking to my parents.&#8221; Berwick superintendent Wayne Brookhart said back in July that person was not with the Berwick football program or affiliated with the school district.&#8220;The family received nothing to move,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;They moved because they rented a house. Football had nothing to do with this.&#8221;Hoffman said he will consult with the family about a possible lawsuit against the PIAA.&#8220;If we file something, it would be a request for a preliminary injunction,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;I still have to talk to them and decide what they want to do.&#8221;All but 20 minutes of the three-hour hearing in July was closed at the request of the family and Berwick. Wednesday&#8217;s appeal was about 30 minutes shorter with all of it closed at the request of the family, meaning the media and public couldn&#8217;t be present during testimony. The PIAA allows closed hearings when personal or academic issues of a student is part of the testimony.Brookhart didn&#8217;t divulge any of Wednesday&#8217;s testimony, but said the arguments by Berwick and Nanticoke against the transfers were the same as in June. Both school districts believed the transfers were for athletic purposes, a situation that is rare in eligibility hearings. Usually, it&#8217;s one school district against another.&#8220;Same evidence, same conclusion. The facts were pretty clear,&#8221; Brookhart said. &#8220;There was no surprise. We anticipated it.&#8221;Wednesday&#8217;s decision came after about 15 minutes of deliberation. District 2 took about 45 minutes to render its decision.Board member Robert Hartman Jr., the District 11 chairman, made a motion to deny eligibility. Douglas Bohannon, the District 3 vice chairman, seconded the motion. The three other board members &#8212; District 4 chairman and board president James Zack, girls athletic representative Audrey Hall and private school representative Dennis Nemes &#8212; also voted against the Beckhorns.District 2 chairman Frank Majikes, who is also the board vice president, was present during the hearing, but didn&#8217;t vote. He was one of the 10 District 2 members who voted against the Beckhorns in June.District 2 gave the Beckhorns the option to participate in voluntary offseason workouts with the Berwick football team. Berwick coach George Curry said on Friday that neither was present at workouts.&#8220;I do know we let them go through some of the procedural things just in case they were determined to be eligible,&#8221; Brookhart said. &#8220;Whether they are on the field every day &#8212; (athletic director) Frank (Sheptock) is on vacation &#8212; I don&#8217;t believe they are.&#8220;Whatever Coach said I believe is accurate.&#8221;<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By John Erzarjerzar@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach John Erzar at 570-991-6394 or on Twitter @TLJohnErzar</shirttailMeta></div>

PIAA Board of Directors rule against Jules and Damon Beckhorn in eligibility appeal