Centennial girls basketball forfeiting nine wins for ineligible player; county championship outcome unchanged

Centennial girls basketball will forfeit nine wins from this winter because of an ineligible player that was on its roster for the first 17 games of the season. The penalty is in accordance with Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association guidelines.The violation itself was self-reported to county officials by Centennial coaches prior to the team&#8217;s game against Howard on Feb. 14, and the outcome of the ensuing investigation was announced on Monday afternoon.The team&#8217;s official record on the season is now 2-14 in county and 3-19 overall. The outcomes of the last five games of the regular season, where the player in question was no longer on the roster, are not affected.Centennial is still eligible to compete in the postseason, which begins on Friday, March 1. The team will be the fifth seed in Section I of the 3A East region, traveling to face fourth-seeded Atholton.&#8220;The moment we were made aware of the situation, we immediately took the necessary steps to report it and try to rectify the situation,&#8221; Centennial coach Rob Slopek said. &#8220;We accept the penalty and, as a staff, our focus has been on the players and on the task at hand. Right now, that&#8217;s preparing for the region tournament.&#8221;Slopek declined to comment further, per the county&#8217;s policy regarding personnel matters.In regards to the ramifications of the forfeited games, four county schools &#8212; Atholton (two games), Glenelg, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron &#8212;will replace their loss against Centennial with a win. Non-county schools Broadneck, C. Milton Wright, Manchester Valley and Winters Mill will do the same.Of the league games affected, the extra win for Long Reach has the greatest overall impact. As of Monday morning, prior to the news of an infraction, the Lightning and Howard had each completed the regular season with matching 13-3 league records.The forfeited game, though, improves Long Reach&#8217;s county record to 14-2 and initial word was that the Lightning would thereby be named county champion by itself.Late Monday evening, however &#8212; following a conversation with Athletics and Activities Managers Joe Thomas of Long Reach and Michael Duffy of Howard &#8212; the Howard County Athletics Office announced a decision to not let the forfeits affect the outcome of the county championship race.Long Reach and Howard will remain co-champions.&#8220;At the end of the day, we don&#8217;t want to hurt the kids and take away what they&#8217;ve done on the floor. This is a unique situation in that we don&#8217;t have anything in our handbook that deals with forfeits as it relates to county championships,&#8221; said Howard County Coordinator of Athletics John Davis. &#8220;We&#8217;ve decided that in this case, we don&#8217;t want the county championship to come down to a technicality. The forfeits are still being applied for region tournament seeding purposes in accordance with state guidelines, but we are applying a local decision as it relates to the county title.&#8220;On the court, the two teams finished as co-county champions and that&#8217;s how we are going to leave it.&#8221;

Centennial girls basketball forfeiting nine wins for ineligible player; county championship outcome unchanged

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!
Save big on local news.

SALE ENDS SOON

$1 FOR 12 WEEKS

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!Save big on local news.

SALE ENDS SOON

$1 FOR 12 WEEKS

Don't miss our 4th of July sale!
Save big on local news.