Known VHSL forfeits


2004 :

Tues., Nov. 9, 9 pm : The VHSL Executive Committee decided last week that L.C. Bird H.S. of Richmond will have to forfeit their first four wins, according to articles in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Monday and Tuesday. An appeal will be heard on Wed.


Sat., Nov. 6, 9 pm : Will a Richmond area AAA school have to forfeit their first 4 wins?

An Oct. 22nd story from Cox.net says LC Bird will not forfeit any games, but a story the following week in the Richmond Times Dispatch said that a county school official sent the info to the VHSL, where the Executive Committee will review it and make a decision.

So, the VHSL finally got around to it, and guess what? Today's RTD says a decision has been made, but won't be announced until Monday.

Note : This ruling won't effect the ratings for anyone in Regions IV, III, D or C.


August : Why wait ??? Beat the rush !!! Here's a pre-season forfeit for ya.
The WVSSAC webpage with the Group AAA schedules shows the Sept. 10th Parkersburg South vs. Warren (Ohio) game as a forfeit, with South now playing Westland, Ohio on 9/10 in a game that doesn't count. (I haven't found any other info on this anywhere.)


2003 :

A Dec. 11th story in the Martinsburg (WV) Journal, which also ran on the AP Wire in Va., said that Jefferson (WV) had to forfeit their only two wins of the year, vs. Hedgesville (WV) & Sherando, for using an academically ineligible player.

Here's a non-forfeit for ya : The Nov. 21st edition of the Roanoke Times reported that playoff member William Fleming used a "possibly" ineligible player in every game last year. Seems the kid lived in the Patrick Henry school district, but enrolled at Fleming using a fake address. The VHSL basically said that since no one from Fleming actually checked the address, they were not at fault, so no sanctions were levied against the Colonels.

The Nov. 16th edition of the Suffolk News-Herald said Nansemond River had to forfeit their Oct. 17th win over Great Bridge.

Nov. 13th & 21st non-archived articles from the Newport News Daily Press said Brunswick decided to forfeit their Nov. 14th make-up game against York.

This may or may not be a forfeit... In the Nov. 7th state AP Wire scoreboard, Norcum beat Churchland 2-0. I have found no mention of the game anywhere online or on either school's website.

A Nov. 1st article in Harrisonburg's Daily News-Record (along with a non-archived article from the Charlottesville Daily Progress) said Spotswood forfeited their 19-14 win over Charlottesville on Sept. 5th.

The Oct. 11th edition of the Suffolk News-Herald said that Maury had to forfeit their opening day victory over Lakeland.

The Centreville Wildcats (Group AAA) were forced to forfeit their season-opening win over West Springfield due to using an "ineligible" player who transferred from Park View back in April. Seems the Concorde District Council approved the paperwork but forgot to forward it to the VHSL before the season started. Centreville's first appeal was denied, but a different (and seemingly better) appeal was filed, but the VHSL wouldn't overturn the decision. See Oct. 2nd and 6th articles in the NoVa Connection papers; Oct. 2nd , 8th and 9th stories in the Fairfax Journal, and the Nov. 5th Washington Post .


Her's an interesting story from the Nov. 7th Washington Post. A D.C. school had to forfeit 3 wins for using an ineligible player which the DCIAA had previously said was eligible, but only because the school submitted an incorrect form.


And finally, here's why I hate getting scores second-handed (from the Steubenville, Ohio Herald-Star ).



2002 :

According to a Dec. 12th article in the Roanoke Times, Magna Vista had to forfeit all 9 of their regular season wins, plus 2 post-season wins, for using an ineligible player. The unnamed student was found to be in violation of the semester rule which means he had exceeded his alloted 8 consecutive semesters of eligibility). The mistake in the student's record was found when the winter eligibility lists were being checked.

According to a Nov. 10th article in the Roanoke Times, Nelson Co. forfeited their win over Altavista for using an ineligible player.

According to an Oct. 16th article in the Norfolk Virginian- Pilot Online, Menchville had to forfeit all 3 of their wins so far (to Churchland, Bethel & Gloucester).
The Newport News Daily Press said the player had transferred from Woodside after moving in with his Aunt over the Summer.

According to an Oct. 5th article in the Roanoke Times, E.C. Glass had to forfeit their first 3 wins of the season for the same violation as Magna Vista.



2001 :

Mon. Oct. 22 : According to a story in todays' Richmond Times-Dispatch, George Wythe (Richmond) forfeited last weekends game to Monacan due to a mix-up in the starting time, leading to the inability to get adequate security for the game.

B U T     W A I T ! ! !

Fri., Nov. 9 : According to a story yesterday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Monacan @ George Wythe (R) forfeit will come off the books as the teams have agreed to make up the game Tuesday night at Monacan (Wythe doesn't have a field).




2000 :

In April, 2001, The Roanoke Times and the Lexington News-Gazette reported that Rockbridge Co. had to forfeit all 3 of their 2000 season football wins because of an academically ineligible player, who only took 4 new classes during the Fall term. Picking up wins were Covington, Parry McCluer & Christiansburg.


Nov. 4 : 11 forfeits detailed below

According to articles in today's Coalfield Progress and Bristol Herald Courier, Clintwood used an ineligible player for 4 downs against Haysi in week 2 and has to forfeit the win, helping Haysi make the playoffs.

Earlier this week, the Roanoke Times said that Cave Spring forfeited their first 6 games (wins against RVD rivals William Fleming & Franklin Co., and Group AA teams Jefferson Forest, Northside, Blacksburg & Salem).
A player transferred away mid-season, and a routine check of his records showed that he received credit last Spring for a foreign language course he repeated for a better grade. While this is okay under the state BOE standards, it isn't when it comes to sports eligibility under VHSL guidelines.

And let's remember the Titans.
According to an article in the Oct. 23rd issue of The Washington Post, T.C. Williams (AAA - Patriot) has forfeited its first two games, wins over Robert E. Lee-Springfield & Mount Vernon, for using a player who is in his 9th semester of high school. The VHSL only lets students participate in athletics during the first 8 semesters.

Ahhh, those darned state tests. According to articles in the Sept. 27th issue of The Washington Post and the Sept. 29th issue of the Winchester Star , Strasburg (A - Bull Run) has forfeited their wins over East Hardy, WV (9/1) and Group AAA new-comer Westfield (9/8) because one of their players failed his Literacy Passport test.



I'm glad I don't do this for West Va, too. Things over there are pretty bad. Anyone who has studied the VHSL Master Schedule closely would notice a lot of problems with the schedules which were submitted by WV.

Take Bluefield, for example. They re-arranged 3 of their last 4 games, playing Richlands on Oct. 20. And Graham's game with Mount View was moved back 7 weeks. Mount View and Matewan only played 4 of the 10 games on the date they submitted.

The following is a synopsis of an article which appeared in the Sept. 20th edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.

Last season, Tolsia (AA) got beat-up by Logan (AAA), losing by 36 and having two players suffer serious injuries. Over the Summer, they discussed dropping this year's game.
Tolsia picked up Guyan Valley as a replacement, but Logan couldn't find anyone, so the Wildcats asked Tolsia to honor the contract, which they refused to do. So, the SSAC comes in and rules that Tolsia must forfeit the game to Logan. And since Guyan Valley would put Tolsia over the 10-game limit, they aren't allowed to play it.

Also, Big Creek and Burch were to play on Oct. 20th. I'm not sure of the exact details here, but Burch then scheduled a game against Tug Valley for that night. But Big Creek and Burch got things straightened out... they'll play each other, and Tug Valley picked up Matewan that night, even though the Tigers were originally set to play Duval.

Speaking of Matewan, their game against Tug was moved to Sat. when long-time Asst. Coach Blaine Pruitt passed away Thur. night, losing his battle with cancer.



Cumberland High School (Region B, James River District) dropped their program midway through the season, forfeiting their final 5 games.

And out on the coast, a weird hurricane-delayed forfeit has been recorded.
According to the Rappahannock Record, a Sept. 17th game between Windsor and Northumberland was supposed to be made up on Tues., Nov. 2nd. However, Northumberland has been hit hard with injuries, having to put in JV players to finish out their previous game. So, with a possibly winable district game left on the schedule, Northumberland gave the game to Windsor.

But remember, most of the forfeits over the past 3 years have been announced the week the playoffs start. And the VHSL can make changes right up until the opening kickoff, so stay alert.