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Hudson Football Forfeits Victory Against Hernando

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By BART O’CONNELL

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 27, 2008

HUDSON - HUDSON Due to what Hudson football coach Mark Nash described as a "clerical error," the Cobras were forced to forfeit their lone victory of the 2008 season against Hernando after using an ineligible player.
The unidentified player, who saw the bulk of his action on special teams and was in his fourth year playing for the Cobras, has been eligible in previous seasons, up until spring practices. But Nash said he, "became ineligible in the second semester of his junior year," declining to address specifics.
The development initially slipped past Hudson administrators who check eligibility statistics for all athletes, but was uncovered during an unrelated parent-administrator conference. The violation was self-reported to the FHSAA last week, and a letter was sent to Hernando informing them of the forfeit per FHSAA rules.
"It's an unfortunate situation. It was completely a human error," Nash said. "We do plan to make some changes to our protocol in this process, a few more checks and balances."
The mistake wiped clean a 33-3 victory for the Cobras, who are now 0-3 overall and 0-1 in Class 3A-District 8. Two days after the game and before the violation was reported, the player quit the team for unrelated reasons.
"It's embarrassing because we pride ourselves on doing the right thing. It's not like we were trying to sneak a player in," Nash said. "We're not going to make the same mistake again."

Correspondent Bart O'Connell can be reached at tampasport@gmail.com.

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