Yesterday, Lakewood’s football team officially forfeited all of its four victories this season. The decision was made after the school discovered a “clerical error” that led to a student playing while academically ineligible. The games against Crenshaw, Peninsula, Mayfair and Verbum Dei will now stand as losses, and the Lancers will go into Friday’s game against Poly, 0-4. The Lancers will also hand over the Milk Bucket trophy to Mayfair, despite their 24-7 win two weeks ago.
As inconceivable as it seems that Lakewood, a 4-0 team with the highest scoring offense in the Moore League, now has the same record as Cabrillo, CIF’s Director of Communications Thom Simmons says it’s not unprecedented.
“This probably happens once or twice a year,” Simmons told LB Post Sports on Wednesday. “Lakewood discovered [the player’s] grades were not what they thought they were, and they are voluntarily forfeiting the games. That’s under the rules, but they are doing it voluntarily.”
Apparently, co-principal Charles Acosta and Athletic Director Matt Ruiz were notified of the “clerical error,” and then in turn notified Lakewood Football head coach Thadd MacNeal. Before the season, coaches receive a list of players who have been deemed academically ineligible from the administration. It is from that list that coaches find out who they can and cannot play that season. Academic ineligibility—when a player gets lower than a 2.0 GPA during any grading period—is not uncommon. In fact, other Moore League teams have had to sit players out this season due to unsatisfactory grades.
As to how the mistake occurred, Lakewood officials are still unsure. “It is what it is,” Lakewood co-principal Charles Acosta told us. “As to how the ‘clerical error’ got passed over, we’re working with our athletic director, administration, and our coaches to get it figured out. We have to put in stopgaps to make sure this embarrassing situation doesn’t happen again.”
“I had no idea,” coach MacNeal said Wednesday. “He’s a real good kid, and he didn’t know he was ineligible. He thought he did all the right things.” While we’re withholding his name out of respect for the player’s privacy, it is safe to say astute fans will notice his absence on Friday.
Along with handing back their wins, the Lancers will hand over the Milk Bucket trophy, which they won by defeating the Mayfair Monsoons in week three. “Lakewood defeated us soundly,” said Mayfair coach Mike Finch, who called coach MacNeal after he heard Lakewood would be forfeiting the game and the trophy. “We’re realists, and we know what the score was. We don’t want it. There’s going to be an asterisk on the Bucket, but sometimes that happens. They played 48 great minutes, and then there was a ‘clerical error.’ “
Any time there’s an eligibility issue, especially in a city as plugged in to its high school football as Long Beach, fans start speculating about the fairness of the whole team forfeiting wins because of one ineligible player. An important piece of this story is the fact that the ineligible player definitely allowed Lakewood to be more competitive in those four games, and would make them more competitive throughout league play—they are not giving up four games over a third-string punter. By choosing to do the right thing and self-report, Lakewood loses the four games they’d already won, and becomes less competitive over the next three weeks, until the next grade reports come out and the player can potentially return to the locker room.
“Honestly, [CIF] probably never would have found out about this,” said Simmons. “The school is the only one who has the grades; they have the duty to self report.”
Finch echoed Simmons’ statement. “They very easily could have swept it under the carpet and no one would have known. Instead, they stood up and forfeited four games they soundly won.”
Regardless of who’s wearing the jerseys, Lakewood and Poly are playing a football game this Friday. “It was very, very hard telling the team,” MacNeal said. “It will affect the game plan, but we have to keep going. That’s just the way these things go.”