Ineligible player costs Bolton football team

[BARTLETTHSGRAD04]

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association has ruled that Bolton High School will forfeit the first nine football games of the season for inadvertently using an ineligible player, the TSSAA announced this morning.

 

Bolton defeated Overton on Thursday to finish its regular season, but instead of a 7-3 overall record and a 6-2 record in Region 7-5A (which would have given the Wildcats the second or third seed in the region), Bolton will finish with a 1-9 record overall, 1-7 in the region.

 

The forfeit means that Cordova High School has clinched a playoff spot. Besides Bolton, the team hurt the most by this is Bartlett, which went from being a certain playoff team to one that needs to beat Ridgeway tonight to make the playoffs.

 

Here are the revised playoff possibilities in Region 7-5A going into tonight's final regular-season games:

 

Millington is first.

 

If Bartlett wins and Cordova loses, Bartlett is second, Arlington is third, and Cordova is fourth.

 

If Bartlett wins and Cordova wins, Cordova is second, Bartlett is third, and Arlington is fourth.

 

If Bartlett loses and Cordova loses, Arlington is second, Ridgeway is third, and Cordova is fourth.

 

If Bartlett loses and Cordova wins, Cordova is second, Arlington is third, and Ridgeway is fourth.

[BARTLETTHSGRAD04]

Bolton will apeal on Monday in Nashville to the tssaa . I pray that Bolton will get things worked out .

[Pantherbert]

A family deceives Bolton high school by supplying false documents, having the coaches drop the player off at the false address after practice, etc. It isn't discovered until a number of days ago so the school does the right thing reports it themselves and the TSSAA pulls the trigger. I was irrate at Bolton at first but now knowing the facts of the case I just have to say..........

 

This is amazing. Just amazing. The TSSAA had better get this fixed. They've really outdone themselves this time folks, managing to cheat not one but two teams ( Bolton and Bartlett, that were locked in ) out of the playoffs.

 

3 people do wrong and over 100 take the fall. Great call from the boys in Nashville.

[Solomon]

Bolton will apeal on Monday in Nashville to the tssaa . I pray that Bolton will get things worked out .

 

 

So really, if this is overturned, then the playoff seedings for Region 7 could be changed?

[ParisRiverRat]

So really, if this is overturned, then the playoff seedings for Region 7 could be changed?

 

 

This could only happen in a place like Memfis...

[BARTLETTHSGRAD04]

Yes the playoff seeds will be changed if Bolton over changes it. I believe it will be Millington 1 Bolton 2 Bartlett 3 and Arlington 4 . By the way Memphis and east tn or wherever in Tennessee it can happen anywhere .

[Pantherbert]

This could only happen in a place like Memfis...

 

 

 

What on earth does this have to do with Memphis?

[Spartansfan]

This could only happen in a place like Memfis...

 

 

Your coffee didn't do you any good....good back to bed.

 

It can (and does) happen anywhere.

[Rob_M]

This is going to sound COLD. But, Bolton is finally getting what they have sowed over the last 20 plus years. The late Paul Barrett routinely "recruited" talented players from other area schools to play sports (primarily Basketball) at Bolton. He never got "caught" and thus helped the Wildcats win numerous State Championships.

 

I for one hope that Ronnie Carter and the TSSAA uphold their earlier decision.

[BARTLETTHSGRAD04]

Oh rob give me a break the coaches had no idea because they dropped this kid off at that address the whole time and they found out this week. R u scared that Millington would loose to Bolton if they played each other in the playoffs - just kidding . I'm just suprised that the coaches and athletic director Chad Stevens didn't know till this week.

[Spartansfan]

Oh rob give me a break the coaches had no idea because they dropped this kid off at that address the whole time and they found out this week. R u scared that Millington would loose to Bolton if they played each other in the playoffs - just kidding . I'm just suprised that the coaches and athletic director Chad Stevens didn't know till this week.

 

 

It's always a bad deal to have a whole team punished this way for the actions of a few. There's no way I can know who knew about this kids address, or any of the details behind it. But since the issue was turned in to the TSSAA, they ha dto make a descisive decision on it, and do it pretty quickly because of the playoffs being just around the corner. If somehow they decided to reverse this decision, I would think it would open the doors for other teams to be using this as a way to get players. Then if they got caught, just refer back to the Bolton 2007 example and get away with it. So if Bolton is innocent, they have my sympathy (for whatever that's worth), but if the coaches knew about this, then they're getting what they deserve.

 

Bartlett is being hurt by it also, and they are really innocent bystanders on this one. Although, they did know before their Ridgeway game that if they won, they were in, lose, and they were out. So their playoff season started a game early, and Ridgeway isn't the toughest of opponents. Bartlett did have a say in the outcome or their season, albeit not the greatest of circumstances.

 

All around, it's a sad deal for these elligibility issues to be getting figured out so late in the year. Perhaps there should be a revision to the process that a player needs to be elligible by a certain date, and in doing so, the factors that would render him inelligible as the season progresses would be limited to keeping grades up, behavior, and prehaps a couple of other factors. But age and 5th year senior issues, addresses, and such should be dealt with before the academic year begins. Once the TSSAA says he's ok, and the school admin say he's ok, it should be a done deal. Just get it figured out prior to playing a game that counts.

[Pantherbert]

This is going to sound COLD. But, Bolton is finally getting what they have sowed over the last 20 plus years. The late Paul Barrett routinely "recruited" talented players from other area schools to play sports (primarily Basketball) at Bolton. He never got "caught" and thus helped the Wildcats win numerous State Championships.

 

I for one hope that Ronnie Carter and the TSSAA uphold their earlier decision.

 

 

Rob, you know I have absolute highest regard for your opinion and most of the time I don't mind Bolton seeing having a bad day. /blush.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":blush:" border="0" alt="blush.gif" />

 

 

That said, I'm just not content letting Bartlett get screwed becuase of a mistake that they didn't make and Colonel Jessep in Nashville ordering the Code Red. Bartlett knew about it the importance of the game vs Ridgeway alright.....the players found out during lunch the DAY OF THE GAME. That's awful hard to prepare for. Awful hard and I don't care who the opposition is. You go to sleep one night a lock for the playoffs and wake up the next fighting for your season. That's just not right. I don't buy the " you had a say in it" garbage. If you take away the Bolton situation and the chips fall like they did Bartlett is in and Ridgeway is not. Bartlett earned the spot and it's being stolen from them.

 

So, I for one hope Carter overturns it. Not for Bolton's sake, but for our players'. Sorry for sounding selfish but it's how I feel.

 

Best of luck to the Trojans as they begin the march to hopefully a championship. I plan to try and make it up to one of ya'lls games.