Southeast forfeits six games due to ineligible player

Not two weeks after the fight fiasco, Southeast High School’s football team has been dealt another severe punishment.

The team forfeited six football games due to the participation of an ineligible player. Information regarding the player surfaced as the school made plans for its playoff roster.

Southeast officials self-reported the incident to the Florida High School Athletic Association on Tuesday.

“State entry list was due Monday and so they were working to clean up their state entry list,” Manatee County supervisor of athletics Jason Montgomery told the Bradenton Herald. “And they had a kid that previously had not been entered. ... And when they did that, they realized the kid was academically ineligible. And he had participated in six games.”

The team held a 6-1 record before taking the forfeits. The Seminoles host Harmony High School on Friday as their final regular season opponent.

Montgomery, citing privacy concerns for the student-athlete, declined to release the academically ineligible player’s name.

It’s the second incident involving Southeast’s football program in less than two weeks.

During the Seminoles’ loss to Wauchula Hardee on Oct. 20, a fight broke out that resulted in six Southeast athletes earning a four-week suspension.

Head coach Rashad West declined to comment.

Forfeited games include:

▪ Sept. 15 at Bayshore (34-23) W

▪ Sept. 28 vs. DeSoto County (35-0) W

▪ Oct. 6 vs. Cardinal Mooney (35-31) W

▪ Oct 13 vs. Lemon Bay (49-6) W

▪ Oct. 20 at Wauchula Hardee (21-24) L

▪ Oct. 27 at Booker (26-8) W

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement from the Manatee County school district, Southeast was aiming for a playoff berth with one game remaining under the new FHSAA playoff format, which uses a points system to determine wild-card berths for non-district winners in Class 8A-5A.

The Noles compete in 5A, and the FHSAA has yet to announce whether the penalty for the Oct. 20 postgame brawl with Hardee will remain, or if the length will change.

“You hate it for these kids that the opportunity to go to the playoffs isn’t determined on the field,” Montgomery said.

This is the second time an academically ineligible player that was used cost an area program victories on the field. Earlier this month, Cardinal Mooney forfeited two victories and was fined $200 after self-reporting an infraction to the FHSAA.

This story was originally published October 31, 2017 at 2:34 PM with the headline "Southeast forfeits six games due to ineligible player."