BREAKING: Northern Forfeits Game Against Northwest

As we went to air for Football In Focus, we were notified by Northern Guilford’s principal that they have reported another game where illegible players participated.

Andy will have more details later tonight….

Northern forfeited their game with Northwest Guilford and now Northern Guilford’s record falls to (5-2) and Northwest Guilford goes to (7-0)…There were two juniors from the Northern team that played in the JV game on Thursday and then also played at least one play in the Varsity game on Friday night….Northern has been forced to forfeit the NWG game and they will also have to pay a fine to the NCHSAA…..

This may send a signal to be very careful how you use your JV players on Varsity and it might be time to split them up and not have their playing time overlap and just move JV players up for the playoffs and if they are on JV, have them play JV only during the regular season….

The JV 8 quarter rule can burn you and the rule states from what we have been told that once a JV player has played 8 quarters on Varsity, then you have to declare that you are going to play either JV fulltime or Varsity fulltime for the rest of the season…..No more playing on Thursdays and Fridays both….One or the other….One play at any point of the game constitutes a full quarter of play, no matter what the score, or no matter how much time is left in the game…..

At least that is how the rule was explained to me, a year so back, by one of our area’s very knowledgeable high school coaches….

Seems like if there is going to confusion, then just have players declare for one team or another, with the exception of moving players up, come playoff time….

If Northern used the players late in the game, when the game was no longer in dobut and the players didn’t really effect the outcome of the game, because both games in question for the forfeits were blowouts and there was no coming back late for the teams that were trailing, that still doesn’t matter…..The NCHSAA rules are in the book and they are the rules that apply here…The rules appear a bit vauge, but they are there to follow and they have to be followed by the letter…..

Tough way to go down in both cases and who is to know if anyone would have caught Northern if they didn’t turn themselves in…..Not sure if anyone sits around counting things like this other than those that are supposed to logging these numbers and if you didn’t count and re-count could you catch it all, in all cases? Not sure, but Northern was honest and turned themselves in, not once but twice and now we will have to wait and see what happens next…..

Lots of games to be played on Friday night and all of our teams will have to get focused for those games….Got to feel Northern will be focused for Eastern Guilford and if they weren’t playing with a chip on their shoulder before, I’m sure they will be now and you can’t blame them…

For the team to have two wins taken away for games that they won on the field and then to lose those games due to carelessness, that is not an easy blow to take….

But you have to take it and keep on playing….The release point for the Nighthawks will probably come when they finally get to hit the field again….

Will need to keep a close watch on the JV participation records and make sure that they do not further damage their season…..Kind of crazy when you want to be focusing on what is happening on the football field and then you have to be facing the blast of the furnace for your forfeitures….

We will all keep moving on and for sure we will learn more about JV football participation rules than we ever dreamed we could in 2013…..

36 thoughts on “BREAKING: Northern Forfeits Game Against Northwest

  1. I’m sure NW fans will be talking about their undefeated season if they win out. What a joke. Northern forfeiting another one is also a joke.

  2. So sad & disappointed for our Nighthawks. Those kids work hard and play their hearts out. School admin needs to get their act together. Devasting to a school with great parents and a great school spirit and awesome athletes.

  3. Ok so in AAU if a younger kid wants to play in an older group they can. Its one thing if you had a varsity age kid playing JV but these kids are younger so the older kids should have the advantage. So when your down by 28+ at the half you want them to keep running the score up or put younger kids in that gives your kid on the loosing side a chance to make plays and get better for the next game. GO NIGHTHAWKS everybody hates a winner!

  4. When the basketball team got caught cheating the ad and principal got fired so why isn’t the same thing happening now. Laine and Thomas both need to step down or get fired.

  5. These juniors who played were playing in the real game when it really mattered. No subs or scrubs were put in for this game on Northerns end so these athletes were clearly good enough to play on varsity when it counts so it’s not a feel good story for the kids they are actual talents

  6. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.

    Boom. Boom. Boom. Getting closer.

    Vacated. Redacted. As though it never happened.

    You brought this on yourself, with your arrogance and conceit.

  7. Hey Why? How many ADs or Principal’s have you seen call a play let alone put a player into the game. Could it be as simple as a first year head coach not being familiar with the 8 quarter rule and making a mistake? We are proud of our kids and coaches. Go Nighthawks!

  8. I feel bad for the kids that did nothing but go out and play hard.

    Shame on the coaches for this. They knew the rules just like the opponents did. If the coaches didn’t, then shame on the AD for hiring the coaches.

    But, might as well get these out of the way and move on. It’s better that they are flagging themselves and not someone else finding it.

  9. “It’s better they are flagging themselves and not someone else finding it.”

    Don’t kid yourself, MIM. They’re looking right now. And they’ll find it. They’ll find the ineligible players, the phony addresses, the cover-ups. Don’t think it won’t happen just because it hasn’t happened yet.

    Take off your purple tinted glasses and see the situation as it is. It will make the inevitable fall easier to take.

  10. Everyone is always looking because it is too good to be true. Phony addresses are always a problem but cover-ups with Laine are unlikely. Word has it that he would give-up his own mother if it came down to doing the right thing. Careful Doom… You might be headed down a slippery slope with your latest prediction.

  11. Don’t be fooled. This is not an 8 quarter rule violation. There are those who want you to believe this is about playing kids when the team is winning big. The fact is Northern played Juniors on Thursday night and then dressed them and played them on Friday night. This is a direct violation of the rules. You can dress Juniors on Thursday night but CANNOT dress them on Friday. Against NW, PAGE and REIDSVILLE they DRESSED AND PLAYED juniors on Thursday and Friday (and it was a lot more than 2). The BIG question is why have they not forfeited the Page and REIDSVILLE games? It does not matter if you don’t like the rule. The rule is there and Northern violated it. Makes you wonder how many other rules they violate.

  12. Truth b told you have no clue: no JV game was played against Reidsville. Please do your homework before commenting. We are all wondering all night. As I recall, the truth was told with the self report!

  13. James, I messed up concerning the REIDSVILLE game. But the truth is Northern played Juniors on Thursday night and then played them on Friday. It happened at NW and it happened at PAGE. WHY do you play Juniors on JV? Thug next forfeit to come will be the Page game. Watch and see!

  14. Report your findings to Que Tucker at the NCHSAA. Northern laid it all out from day 1, admitted the mistakes, and the Nighthawks are moving on. They play juniors at the jv level because the players are simply not good enough to play on Friday nights but are good kids. Sometimes the heart can get in the way. Let it go, you are looking for something that is not there.

  15. Truth is we will all be back here again tomorrow…Got games to play on Friday and that will need to be the focus…

    Time to call it a day here tonight and come back again tomorrow…..

  16. “Sometimes the heart gets in the way.” Is that what you will tell yourself when NG is forced to vacate three state titles?

  17. After September 1, the previous year is history. Again, please do your homework before you comment.

  18. There seems to be a whole lot of bad information floating. This issue happened before the Williams issue. Going back after the Williams issue caught this.

    There are no juniors that play meaningful Varsity reps that also played JV. That is a misconception.

    There will be no more issues with 8 quarter rules. The coaching staff just put everybody up or down. A few on JV will come up come playoff time otherwise, there are no changes.

  19. Let’s all try and find the right path….Some of this is starting to get a bit silly as some of the recent comments have been heading in that direction….

    Forfeiting state titles other than football? What titles does Northern have other than football?(Maybe some girls golf titles, but others???) and from what we have heard, the Northern-Eastern game is still on for tonight….Some were questioning whether or not this game would still be played and as far as we know for now, the game is still on….

  20. Everybody up or down sounds like a very good move…That eliminates confusion and takes out too many gray areas…

    JV is JV and Varsity is then Varsity and any moves come for the playoffs….That seems like the very best approach, in theory any way….

  21. Boys track won state last year. A lot of individual titles in track too. Not sure what the purpose of those types of comments are except to fan the kindling to create more smoke.

  22. I looked at this website to see who was playing where tonight.. Seen this. You people are crazy… If for one second anyone thinks that only Northern has players that use to be at other schools wait till basketball when you see several new faces at Page,,,,, that last year played for other schools. This has been going on for 30 plus years. I’m a NE grad and don’t have a kid or dog in the fight. And here’s the real surprise, It aint ever going to stop…….

  23. You are correct. It is never going to stop. As long as there are parents willing to lie to get their child into a particular school, this will continue. If you think this is happening at one place, you are naive. It is happening just about everywhere.

  24. Unfortunately many of today’s parents lack integrity. They are part of the win at all cost mentality.
    As many issues as today’s teenagers often have,some of their parents have even more. There just seems to be a lower percentage of parents doing their jobs and stressing morality and integrity than we used to have.

  25. Mr. Laine’s explanation in the N&R story that first-year Head Coach Brian Thomas didn’t know the rules out of “ignorance” is ridiculous. Coach Thomas was on the coaching staff at Northern well before he stepped into Roscoe’s shoes. He knows the rules, as do the rest of his staff and the AD. And I had to laugh at Laine’s description of a particular rule being “vague” because it said freshmen and sophomores ONLY.

  26. Time to give this post a break/brake….Time to get out and support all of your teams…

    We can re-visit this later today and it is now time to take time to go to your local gridiron…..

  27. Until you know who the ineligible player/players were and go back and watch the game film then you have no clue as to what you are talking about. Northern has a very talented group of kids who have been playing together for years. No one from out of the district. These are all false accusations from people who can’t accept the fact that their schools have been unable to win against Northern. My son graduated last year and every season we had to supply stacks of papers to verify eligibility.

  28. NG still undefeated on the field for 37 straight games in a row. After last night where we even had one TD called back and took a Knee at the three yard line with 11 seconds to go showing mercy and grace. Class Act those Northern Boys! Teams will be begging us to play our JV teams and our juniors who do not get much playing time! Congratulations once again to the Mighty Mighty Nighthawks! Haters gonna hate, Nighthawks gonna dominate!

  29. We did lose decisively on the field last Friday. I have not given up. We may find out in a week or two that we will get that win which will help our playoffs seeding.

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