LITTLE ROCK — Pine Bluff Dollarway has forfeited four victories this fall, including three in the 8-4A Conference, because of an ineligible player, Coach Cortez Lee said Tuesday afternoon.
Lee said school officials became aware of a potential problem Friday morning, and the player was held out of Friday night’s 32-27 victory over Hamburg.
Lee didn’t want to identify the player but said he was a transfer and wasn’t a starter. The player was ineligible because he was competing in his ninth semester, Lee said.
According to rules of the Arkansas Activities Association, the state’s governing body for high school athletics: “A student is limited to eight consecutive semesters of opportunity for eligibility beginning with the student’s first enrollment in the ninth grade.”
“He came in from another school,” Lee said. “He didn’t play ball or anything like that. It was just a pretty much overlooked situation where his age and grade-point average were accurate. It was just a matter of his semesters.”
Dollarway forfeited a victory over Gosnell (26-17) to open the season and 8-4A victories over Warren (29-24), Dumas (22-14) and DeWitt (47-34).
The forfeits drop the Cardinals from 5-2 overall and 4-1 in the 8-4A to 1-6 and 1-4.
Dollarway was stripped of its 8-4A title after using an ineligible player during four victories in 2008. Those forfeits also involved a player competing in his ninth semester.
Dollarway is still recognized as Class 4A state runner-up in 2008 because it would have advanced to the playoffs as the conference’s No. 4 playoff seed even with the forfeits.
Sports, Pages 19 on 10/26/2011