Nashville Christian School will forfeit its season-opening 55-26 victory over Harpeth after finding that one of its players was academically ineligible for varsity competition.
The player was found to have completed only 4.5 credits during the 2012-13 school year, leaving him a half-credit short of the five required by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.
“He had to take some summer school, and those grades weren’t available by the first day of school,” Nashville Christian coach Jeff Brothers said regarding the unnamed player. “We later found out that one of his classes he only received a half-credit for, which made him academically ineligible. We found it within our own building and realized it was a clerical thing.
“Nobody would have known, but we’re not going to operate like that. We’ve got to forfeit the game. We’ve talked to the players about it and everybody understands it was a mistake, not an intentional thing. It’s a live-and-learn lesson for us. We’ve got to make sure the credits are right and stay on top of things.”
The player, a sophomore, did not participate in either of Nashville Christian’s most recent wins – a 28-11 victory at Ezell-Harding on Aug. 30, or a 48-8 victory over District 10-A rival Houston County last week. He will not be eligible for varsity competition in any sport for the remainder of this semester.
In addition to forfeiting the win – a change from previous years, when the outcome would have been vacated by Nashville Christian and remain a loss for Harpeth, now 3-0 – NCS will also be subject to a $50 fine. No further action will taken on the matter, according to TSSAA Executive Director Bernard Childress.
“Most of our ineligible athletes, when they’re inadvertent and they’re found, probably about 98 percent of them are self-reported,” Childress said. “They follow the correct procedure, they call us and let us know, and we follow the guidelines set in the by-laws – forfeit the game, pay the fine and move on. Our schools make the right decisions on those.”
NCS, ranked eighth in this week’s Associated Press Class 1A statewide poll, is now 2-1 with the forfeit. The Eagles play visiting Davidson Academy this week.
“We’re 2-1, and we move on,” Brothers said. “It doesn’t change a thing for us. We’re still playing for the same championship we were playing for before. It’s not tragic. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t catch it.”
