Douglas Byrd To Forfeit Five Football Wins

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Douglas Byrd To Forfeit Five Football Wins

By Dane Huffman

Nov 1, 2007

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Fayetteville, N.C. — Douglas Byrd High School will have to forfeit its five football victories – and will not make the playoffs – for using an ineligible player, according to Fred McDaniel, the Cumberland County director of student activities.

The move is an enormous blow for Byrd, located in an area that takes an intense interest in high school football.

The Eagles are 5-5 overall this season and 3-3 in the Mid-Southeastern 4-A Conference.

McDaniel said he was told Byrd might be using an ineligible player on Oct. 20, while he was attending the N.C. State at East Carolina football game.

“When I came back [to the office] on Monday, I had several people call me from the surrounding area, saying I needed to look into it,” McDaniel said. “We did find there was an ineligible player.”

McDaniel withheld specifics, but The Fayetteville Observer has reported the player came to Byrd from Harrells Christian Academy. McDaniel said the player did not participate in Byrd’s most recent game.

Byrd plays at home Friday against Fayetteville Westover in the final game of the regular season.

McDaniel said the N.C. High School Athletic Association has been notified.

He said this is only the second time in his nine years on the job that he can remember a situation of this magnitude, where a school had to forfeit games.

“Any time that you have a situation like this, for whatever reason, you feel bad for the kid involved, No. 1, and the student-athletes on that team,” McDaniel said. “It’s tough – it’s difficult. But you have to maintain your integrity and tell the truth and come forward if you’ve got a problem.”

Most Recent Comments

There are winners in this situation. For example, if Seventy-First beats Pinecrest tonight, they go from a losing season of 3-8 to a winning season of 6-5. Why? Because they beat Richmond on Saturday, got the forfeit win from Byrd, and beat Pinecrest. That means they would solidify a playoff berth.

The 5 teams getting wins from Byrd's forfeit are winners in this situation and I promise you they're not complaining.

more of a bummer for the kids than anyone..also if this were known or even suspected earlier then the player should not have played until it was cleared up..no winners in this situation..also if its purely politics then who waited until now to turn them in...

Things like this can happen regardless of how careful the coach and the school's athletic administration are. I don't know the details of this situation but do recall a time when one of the teams for which I was responsible had several athletes who hadn't met the minimum academic requirements. There was no intent on our part to sneak any inelegible athletes into competition, there was some confusion with the computer program which checked elegibility. Of course we removed the athletes immeditately when we realized what had happened. The point is that just because this happened doesn't mean that there was any intent on the part of the folks at Byrd to get by with something.

There has to be more to this story. Count on it.

Painful lesson learned for the rest of the team. Play by the rules or suffer what will come your way. I bet that the coach will make sure that every player next year meets the standards set forth before the first kickoff. The question I have is.. Did the coach knowingly let a player on the field he shouldn't have for the sake of a win?

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