At the midpoint of the season, the Huskies football team is sitting on a 1-5 record and the soccer team with a 5-4-4 record when breaking news came out in the headlines around the MVAC. Forbush High School, in both sports, football and soccer, had to forfeit games due to an alleged illegal player.

From the football perspective, the illegal player joined the team at a late point in the season, requiring the Falcons to only forfeit one game, which was their 44-33 victory over North Wilkes.

The forfeit to North Wilkes moves the Vikings to a 1-6 record on the season, and the seventh spot in MVAC Football rankings. Trailing the Vikings in a tie for last place, the Huskies, who was entering tonight’s match up with North Wilkes tied in conference play prior to the forfeiture by Forbush. The contest tonight, which is Ashe’s homecoming game, would have essentially determined the positioning of both Ashe and North Wilkes heading into the final games of the season, but now, Ashe must win to be tied with North Wilkes for seventh spot, leaving Forbush trailing in last pending their game against Wilkes Central, who is currently undefeated in MVAC play.

As far as soccer is concerned, the forfeits by Forbush awarded every MVAC team victories except Ashe, East Wilkes, and Elkin. In a close race for fourth seed in the MVAC, a victory for Ashe would have given them a two game lead over North Wilkes, who received a forfeit. However, the unfortunate timing of the discovery of the illegal player plays as a type of disadvantage for Ashe as it brings North Wilkes one game closer to the Huskies in MVAC, as North Wilkes sits at 3-5-1 and the Huskies stand at 4-3-1.

An irony sight out of the bad luck for Forbush is the NCHSAA soccer rankings by North Carolina High School Coaches Association posted on www.eurosportscoreboard.com, Forbush is currently ranked first out of NCHSAA 2A teams. The irony of the situation, they have a losing record with a 7-8-0 record for the season, and are ranked higher than regional competitor Surry Central, who is currently 14-0.

The mistake of the ineligible player was discovered by Forbush High themselves, and they self reported the error.

“This mistake was made on the master eligibility sheet,” Seth Davis (Forbush Head Soccer Coach) wrote in a release on September 29. “The sheet was checked by me, the athletic director, the school administration, and the county office. Everyone missed the error, and probably would have never caught it if it had not been for the student’s birthday this past week.

“This student played, roughly, 40 minutes this season and did not factor into the scoring of the games. It is safe to say that this was an honest mistake by all of those included. I along with Forbush High School and Yadkin County Schools take full responsibility for the mistake.”

The Huskies match up with Forbush came three days following their last forfeited game.

In the standings, Ashe stands just one victory behind Forbush, and three victories behind second ranked Starmount. Subtract the forfeit victory for Starmount, and factor in their loss, they would be sitting at 6-3 instead of 7-2, just two games ahead of Ashe. Upcoming games for Ashe include West Wilkes and Alleghany, two teams that the Huskies defeated in their first round of MVAC play.

Another ironic situation of the chain of events, two of the three teams that did not receive forfeits from Forbush, which are Ashe and Elkin, are tied in the MVAC with four wins. Ashe stands at 4-3-1 and Elkin is 4-5-0. In the event of a tie with Elkin, Ashe owns the tiebreaker with two victories over the Buckin’ Elks both at home and on the road.

The Huskies took to the field again in soccer yesterday evening when they hosted Starmount and then they hit the road next Tuesday traveling to West Wilkes.