FINAL TVC OHIO STANDINGS

[ATownWarrior]

i agree powerliftingnut, very well said. its nice to actually read some post that have class. i have played in the TVC all my life and have never been embarressed to say so. i think its great that the TVC does send so many teams to the playoffs. even tho my team has never made it.

[bucksfan08]

There was an article in the Athens Messenger about this whole situation. I would post it on here but i dont know how...lol

[Lancer_Fan]

I am fairly certain that playing a freshman in 2 blowout games did not have any effect on the outcome of these two games. It is unfortunate that this happened but mistakes are made everyday in life. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dave Boston, he is a class act.

[orange-n-brown 365]

today is the first I have heard of all this it is a bad situation has all the other schools in the area been so innocent that they have let this or that slide and no one blew the whistle?
I commend NY for stepping up and righting a wrong.

[orange-n-brown 365]

http://athensmessenger.com/main.asp?Sec ... M=51270.12

[Army]

Did you all have to forfiet Freshman and Reserve Games too. If so, who were the games against?

[Run Bubba Run]

So, ok I'm still waiting on an answer. Is the final score of a forfeited game 2-0 or not. I believe that is the correct score for a forfeited contest, but do not know for sure.

Anyone know the true answer???

Thanks in advance. RBR

[buckfan84]

Did you all have to forfiet Freshman and Reserve Games too. If so, who were the games against?

Buckeyes forfeit two games, TVC-Ohio title=--

JOE HIGGINS
Messenger staff writer

NELSONVILLE - Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances for an area high school football program, a league championship has been nullified.

The Nelsonville-York Buckeyes mistakenly played an ineligible freshman football player during the 2007 high school football season in two games and must therefore forfeit both contests as per ruling by the Ohio High School Athletic Association.

In the minutes from the December 6th OHSAA Board of Control meeting, it was stated: Nelsonville-York High School's varsity football team used an ineligible student-athlete and, in accordance with Bylaw 11-2-1, Forfeitures ("All athletic contests in which ineligible players have participated shall be forfeited."), the school must forfeit all victorious contests. The ruling was made after the regular season was completed, so no changes in the OHSAA computer ratings were made. The student was in violation of Bylaws 4-4-4, Scholarship ("A student enrolled in the first grading period after advancement from the eighth grade must have passed 75 percent of those subjects carried the preceding grading period in which the student was enrolled.").

Summarily, Nelsonville-York's 41-14 victory over River Valley in week two of the 10 week season and a 43-3 win over Wellston in week eight must be forfeited, changing the official Buckeye record to 4-6 overall and a 3-2 mark in the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division. Every game the player participated in either the freshmen or junior varsity level must also be forfeited.

With a 26-13 win over Alexander in the final game of the season, Nelsonville-York had worked a tie with Belpre for the league championship with both teams sporting a 4-1 division record. The title was to have been Nelsonville-York's fifth straight until the error was caught.

Nelsonville-York athletic director and head football coach Dave Boston explained the situation. "It was something that was missed here. It was missed up in our front office. As a head coach, I check eligibility. We send them a list of our athletes, the eligibility is run through the front office and I get an okay back. The kids are good. I find out where they're at and they are able to go.

"We played a season with a young athlete that transferred in to our school. His transcript was overlooked as far as grades. He's a freshman, he played in two blowout games when we put our young people in which were River Valley and Wellston. It was brought to our attention at the end of the season that we had played an illegal player in a couple games. We checked it out and we had."

Upon the realization of the error, the school turned their findings over to the OHSAA.

Boston said, "As soon as we found that out, that we'd overlooked it, we went to the state, the Ohio High School Athletic Association. Myself, (High School principal) Mick (McClelland) and our superintendent (Ted Bayat) went and met with (Dan) Ross about the situation.

"He told us what would happen, that we would have to forfeit the two ball games that the kid played in regardless whether he was an impact player or not or was a deciding player or not in the game or in the outcome. So therefore, Mr. McClelland went to the board to appeal it and the appeal was turned down. Therefore, one of those games being a league game, that cost us another league win and cost us the league title."

Nelsonville-York's season on the field was strong as the team rebounded from a 2-3 non-league schedule to take four of their five division contests in impressive fashion. According to Boston, both of the games against River Valley and Wellston were well in hand before the player in question entered the ball game but the OHSAA rules are clear on the subject and the proper discipline was handed out.

Boston believes the error was made due to a change in the eligibility rule over the past couple of years. In the past, an eighth grader passing into the ninth grade would regain any lost eligibility and essentially begin high school with a clean slate. However, the rule has moved back and forth to its current form where a student must pass at least 75 percent of his/her classes in the eighth grade in order to be eligible for sports in the first nine weeks of his/her freshman campaign.

Boston was quick to absolve the player of blame saying, "It's not the young man's fault. He had no idea what percent he had passed. He comes in with a fresh outlook on his future, it's not his fault. That rule has changed a couple times and I think that's where the mistake came but it's still no excuse. We were wrong and we're paying the price. The sad thing is I wish I could bear all the blow of the price but our kids have to and that's a sad situation for our program."

Boston continued, "The ones that are hurting in this are our seniors who worked extremely hard to get to where they're at. They put a lot of time and a lot of effort into our football program and to feel like they went out of here four years in a row as champions as our group last year did, they didn't get to feel that. That's a lot to be taken away from a young man and it's a shame that the school couldn't have been fined because it wasn't the kid's fault. The young man wasn't a deciding factor. Had it been a starter or a kid that played with our ones, that would've been different. I would've said, 'Hey, we deserve what we get.'"

Nelsonville-York does not have a history of this sort of clerical error and the school was commended by OHSAA for its measures to ensure the student part of student-athlete takes precedence.

"We try to run it by the book here," said Boston. "Matter of fact, I don't know if there's another program at least in southeastern Ohio that's as hard on our young people as we are and myself. I run a study table four days out of five for an hour each day and all freshman are in that study table for the first nine weeks and then after the nine weeks if they have above a 2.0 they're released. Anybody sophomore or above that has a 2.0 or below even though they may meet our standard and the state standard of a 1.5, they're in the study table.

"We also drug test here. And the state was very complimentary to our school and to what Mr. McClelland and myself and Mr. Bayat have here and ask of our young athletes. We do what we can to make sure that they're successful and that's what I guess disappoints me more than anything. I feel like we let the kids down. The kids didn't let themselves down, they got it done on the field and somehow here we dropped the ball. Let's hope that things are where we don't make the same mistake now. We have to put it behind us now and work and get ready for the future."

Not sure what games he played in, but yes, those games are forfeited also.

[boilermaker]

Nice post , I really hate it for the kids of N-Y .

Good luck in the future

[alexanderspartan]

When did this happen?

[Orange and Brown]

When did this happen?

2007