WHEELING — Excitement turned to confusion and anxiety for the Wheeling Park High School girls soccer team Thursday while en route to the West Virginia Class AAA tournament.

The Patriots had left for Beckley to compete in the contest but, along the way, received word that the state tournament had been delayed via a temporary restraining order issued by Berkeley County Circuit Judge R. Steven Redding. The delay could be a short one, though, since the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission filed an emergency petition seeking to reverse the court decision.

Wheeling Park coach Carrie Hanna received word of the delay while traveling with the team.

The lawsuit was filed by Martinsburg High School student and girls’ soccer player Emily Beck on behalf of her team, as well as the other boys and girls soccer teams in Berkeley County. Attorney Kelly Beck and her husband, Barry, are representing their daughter in these proceedings.

Martinsburg High, located in Berkeley County, was unable to play in the postseason because when the sectional tournament started, the county was designated orange on the West Virginia Department of Education’s COVID-19 map. High school sports teams in orange and red counties are unable to compete, but Berkeley County schools agreed among themselves that Martinsburg, as the No. 1 seed, should advance to the tournament.

Regional tournaments originally were scheduled for Oct. 27-29, but the WVSSAC extended that time frame to Nov. 1 in an effort to give teams the chance to play in the state tournament today and Saturday, based on COVID restrictions issued Oct. 31. Based on those restrictions, though, no school from Berkeley County is eligible to play this week, Nov. 2-7.

The lawsuit cites a lack of available COVID-19 testing in Berkeley County and asked the judge to prohibit the WVSSAC from conducting the state AAA girls’ and boys’ soccer tournament. The judge ruled in Beck’s favor at 11:05 a.m. Thursday, after several teams were on their way to play in the tournament at Beckley, which is in Raleigh County.

Hanna and her team were at lunch when they first received word of the ruling.

“They gathered and it was crazy. We even heard from different people in the mall talking about it,” Hanna said. “Some of my players heard about it from people talking about it before we had a chance to explain everything to them and talk to them to let them know what was going on.

“They were more confused than anything. I think once we got to address the entire group, we’re just going to remain focused on what we can control,” she continued. “We came down here to play in the state tournament and hopefully nobody prevents us from doing that.”

The Patriots arrived in Beckley on Thursday and checked into a hotel. The team held a practice session at 2 p.m. Thursday at Paul Cline Memorial Sports Complex. Hanna said the Patriots plan on playing tonight and hope a court ruling comes down in their favor.

The West Virginia Supreme Court received the petition from the WVSSAC on Thursday afternoon. The filing argues that the Berkeley County court lacks jurisdiction to prohibit the games scheduled to be played in Raleigh County. It also claims that Redding erred in finding that “high school soccer athletes in Berkeley County are being denied equal protection under the law because the WVSSAC’s use of the WVDE map does not take into consideration the disparity of testing available among the counties.” The petition states that the court failed to consider differences in county populations and geography in making this determination.

The WVSSAC’s filing also states that Beck’s claim that she will suffer “irreparable harm” if the tournament goes forward is “remote and speculative.”

The petition asks the Supreme Court to issue a writ of prohibition, halting the Berkeley County court from enforcing its restraining order so that the tournament can go on as scheduled.

Redding has until 9 a.m. today to file a written response to the petition with the Supreme Court. No hearing in the matter had been scheduled at press time.

Regardless of whether the Supreme Court acts on the matter, a tournament delay is expected because AAA boys play was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. today — the same time that responses are due.

WVSSAC Executive Director Bernie Dolan said the tournament would begin shortly after any Supreme Court ruling is issued, provided the decision is in favor of the WVSSAC. Otherwise, the tournament “will be postponed indefinitely,” he said.

The Class AA-A state soccer tournament is still set to be held as planned, also this weekend at Beckley.

If the High Court does not issue the writ of prohibition, that will be of grave concern to the Patriots. Ohio County went orange on the state’s daily COVID alert map Thursday. If the county remains orange this weekend, Wheeling Park would not be allowed to participate in the state tournament if it is played next week.

Hanna was also keeping in contact with Ohio County Schools Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones Thursday. She received a message from him that states, “The WVSSAC is filing an emergency order with the state Supreme Court to overturn this. Ohio County Schools is also intervening in the case to try to get it reversed.”

“We don’t want this delay to cause a lost opportunity for student athletes,” Hanna added. “It is a bit frustrating. We were a bit upset and frustrated about not being able to play in the OVAC (tournament) earlier in the year because we were in yellow at the time. But we just took it as that’s how things happen. And I know a lot of individual Wheeling Park athletes were prevented from competing in their region tournaments because of quarantine.

“It’s been a rough year, but I think everybody has to do their part, play by the rules and handle things with grace and dignity.”

Jennifer Compston-Strough and Rick Kozlowski contributed to this report.