It’s a situation that comes up in nearly every clichéd sports movie: some team played an ineligible player, they will now forfeit the game. It’s rumored that nearly every big time school plays ineligible players, but no one ever gets told that they have to forfeit. Last Friday in Nederland, the oft rumored but rarely investigated has become a reality.
According to the Beaumont Enterprise, the UIL ruled that Nederland will forfeit a 51-9 victory against Livingston that was played on September 9th due to quarterback Kevin Laday being ruled ineligible.
Nederland started Laday after he transferred from Port Arthur Memorial. His request to transfer forms were denied, and Laday was not eligible to play. Nederland self-reported the violation after an issue with Laday’s Previous Athletic Participation Form.
Nederland has until Wednesday to decide if they’re going to appeal the decision or not.
When asked about the decision, Randy Wistner, junior LB/S said, “It was really disappointing to the whole team because we won 51-9 and we feel like we would have won even without Kevin as QB. Our district is already tough so this is just one more hurdle we will have to overcome.”
Laday only appeared in one of the Nederland (2-4 before the ruling) victories this year, every other game he appeared in is already a loss.
The forfeit drops Nederland to 1-4 on the season.
