Daniel Island Bishop England (S.C.) is a team which has played pretty well over the last six years. The Bishops have won the last six South Carolina state championships on offer (having not played the 2020 tournament because COVID-19), and have spun a 98-game winning streak since 2017.
But in one self-reported ruling, all of that has collapsed into history.
Bishop England has, essentially, withdrawn from the 2023 state tournament because of the use of an ineligible player in several games this season. The student, a post-graduate transfer, had played five matches for the Bishops.
And, according to the bylaws of the South Carolina High School League, if a team forfeits more than one game that affects playoff seeding for the state tournament, the sports team is ineligible for the playoffs.
“We were wrong. We played a player who was ineligible,” Bishop England athletic director Paul Runey tells The Daniel Island News. “It was just one of those things, that we missed, that fell through the cracks and I take full responsibility. Kit Brownell, the director of admissions, caught it. If she hadn’t, the girl would still be playing. The name just didn’t register with me at the time.”
I find, however, the cessation of Bishop England’s season somewhat draconian. The forfeiture rule, for me, is a solution in sports where games are rare, such as football. If an athletic department self-reports an ineligible player, the action of recognizing the ineligibility and its effect on a season could be as few as one week’s worth of games — i.e., one.
Compare that with lacrosse, where the season is 16 games. A player who competes while ineligible could play as many as four games in a week, so the moment that ineligible player steps on the field for the second time, it’s far too late to correct the situation.
Had the Bishops not had the five forfeits, they would be coming into the state Class 4A state tournament with a 16-0, as the top overall season, and with the pressure of extending their championship streak to seven.
That, regrettably, won’t be happening this year.
TopOfTheCircle.com 
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