The Westside football team was forced to forfeit its 34-20 win over Shady Spring Tuesday morning a WVSSAC official told Lootpress.
The decision comes after several Westside players who were believed to be eligible played in the game against the Tigers on Oct. 1 at Westside. The players were ruled ineligible, forcing the Renegades to vacate the win.
The players in question sat out Westside’s Monday night game against PikeView, a 40-6 win for the Renegades.
Westside head coach Tyler Dunigon issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, explaining the situation.
“I would like to take time to address last Friday’s Varsity Game vs. Shady Spring High School,” Dunigon said. “The ruling was interpreted to myself and our school administration that the requirements for our ineligible players to return were that the players had to have a 2.0 GPA on progress reports and to have completed 6 weeks of school. All players in question indeed do currently have above a 2.0 GPA and we completed our 6th week of school on Friday. As it turns out, after a protest from Shady Spring High School, because our county started school on Thursday instead of a Monday, the players in question had 27 days of school instead of 30 days.
“The players in question were held out of Monday’s win @ PikeView. We have confirmation from Wayne Ryan at the WVSSAC office that the players in question will be eligible for Friday’s game vs. Liberty and for the rest of the season. I am shocked that a program would want to be given a win rather than earn it. we didn’t have any illegal transfers or anything of the such. These are all players that have attended Westside High School since the 9th grade. I am hurt for our players who have worked hard through so much adversity already to be punished further. We will be a tougher program for all this, and we look forward to a good contest this Friday vs. Liberty.”
With the decision Westside drops from 2-4 to 1-5 and will host Liberty on Friday. Shady improves from 2-3 to 3-2 and will travel to Wyoming East.
