Tulsa County District Judge Daman Cantrell issued an injunction to prevent the removal of 9-year-old Brayden Mathis from an Indian Nations Football Conference program.

Cantrell said his ruling "does not in any way impugn the need to have rules for parents to follow."

Brayden's father, Tony Mathis, said he was "overjoyed" with the court's decision.

Conference officials voted last week to remove Brayden from his Jenks team, contending that the Mathis family violated an agreement to move into the Jenks district.

The family lives in the Union school district but has a contract and a November closing date to buy a house in the Jenks district, testimony indicated.

District Judge Gordon McAllister had declined Thursday to issue a restraining order that would have prevented Brayden, a quarterback, from being removed from his team.

A hearing on the injunction request was conducted Monday by Cantrell. Brayden did not attend the hearing.

Mathis said his son missed one football game, but Cantrell's ruling paves the way for Brayden to play in the final regular season game and to participate in playoff competition.

Attorney Steve Hjelm, representing the Mathises, asserted Monday that confer- ence officials broke an agreement reached in July that settled a previous lawsuit filed by the family.

Attorney Tom Askew, representing the conference, said the settlement called for the Mathises to relocate to the Jenks district by Sept. 1.

Conference Commissioner Tom Lott testified that the "final agreement" was for the Mathis family to be moved by Sept. 1, with an agreement to allow "a little extra time" if there was a closing problem in the move.

"No one is bigger than the rules," Lott testified. "We can't allow parents to dictate."

But Hjelm maintained that a letter regarding the settlement indicated that Tony Mathis "was to make his best efforts" to move and that "there was no deadline."

Mathis testified that Brayden previously went to school in the Union district but now attends school in the Jenks district, which the father said was a condition set in reaching the settlement allowing Brayden to play with the Jenks team.

He indicated that the other condition is for the family to relocate to the Jenks district, which it is in the process of doing.

The lawsuit Mathis filed in July against the conference -- the umbrella league that includes Union, Jenks and other districts or leagues -- sought to force the conference to let Brayden enter the third-grade football draft in Jenks or halt the draft until residency questions could be resolved.

The family decided to switch districts after conflicts arose with their son's coach at Union.

Mathis said the family has had three open houses and reduced the asking price of their home in the Union district in an effort to sell it.

"We're already going to lose money when we sell it," he said Monday.

After Cantrell's ruling, Mathis said, "I want people to see that we kept our end of the agreement."

A breach of agreement action filed by Mathis against the conference this month was not resolved by Cantrell on Monday.

Bill Braun 581-8455
bill.braun@tulsaworld.com