Fort Hill will forfeit 5 regular season games
Family of ineligible player presented fraudulent utility bills; county denies wrongdoing

Nov. 7, 2024
by Alex Rychwalski

CUMBERLAND — The family of the ineligible Fort Hill football player presented fraudulent utility bills at a Maryland address to Allegany County Public Schools to obtain residency status, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Times-News.

An investigation by ACPS last week uncovered the student did not live at the address, which the family later admitted, and instead resided in West Virginia.

Students from outside Allegany County or the state of Maryland are permitted to attend ACPS if they submit an application and pay the approximate $18,000 full tuition cost to attend public school in Allegany County.

Students who move within the school district do not have to pay the fee but are required to provide a proof of residency.

Bob Farrell, president of the Allegany County Board of Education, said the county was not at fault for admitting the student.

“We don’t investigate every child of somebody that said they moved here,” Farrell said. “They have to give us documentation. These people produced notarized information that said they lived at whatever address that it was. There was no reason to question that.

“You’ve got thousands of kids in a school system. Our job is to educate, not to see if they’re trying to defraud us.”

Allegany County Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Blank could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The student is no longer enrolled at Fort Hill, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Times-News on Tuesday.

Fort Hill was forced to forfeit five games after it was determined the player resided in West Virginia and was ineligible.

An anonymous call was placed to the Fort Hill administration on Tuesday stating the student lived out-of-state, and ACPS on Wednesday investigated and confirmed the family did not reside at the address it claimed to.

Following the investigation, ACPS contacted the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to report an eligibility violation as required by the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 13A.06.03.05.

That regulation requires a school to forfeit all games in which an ineligible player has participated.

Students found to be in violation of eligibility rules are subject to a 60-day suspension of eligibility and are declared ineligible to compete in the sport in which the violation occurred during the subsequent season, according to the MPSSAA Handbook.

Fort Hill has not yet appealed the forfeitures to the MPSSAA because the state wouldn’t have had time to hear an argument and make a decision before the playoff brackets were finalized on Monday, contrary to initial reporting.

Fort Hill has 30 school days to put in an appeal and won’t before its playoff run has concluded.

“Once we get through the process of the postseason, we’ll sit down with the team and see what they want to do,” Fort Hill head coach Zack Alkire said. “Do they want to try to restore some of their wins, or do they not care?”

Alkire was adamant that nobody within the Fort Hill football program or administration had any knowledge the student was not a county resident.

Fort Hill Principal Candy Canan declined to comment on the matter when contacted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“The investigation did not reveal any wrongdoing or lack of diligence by the Fort Hill administration or football coaching staff,” read a press release from the Board of Education on Friday.

Alkire said he was not a part of the investigation and wasn’t informed of the possible violation until Wednesday last week, after it had already been reported to ACPS.

“You trust the system in place and that it is going to do the right thing for you,” Alkire said. “You trust that those rules will protect you. ... We did everything by the book. The school personnel, the county did everything by the book.”

It was unclear what, if anything, ACPS could have done to prevent the situation from occurring, or what measures could be put in place to stop it from occurring again in the future.

Asked if this situation will alter how Fort Hill approaches incoming transfers in the future, Alkire said:

“To say that it’s not going to, that would be a lie. But what do you do? We did everything we were supposed to.”

ACPS and the state of Maryland could take legal action to acquire the money that it’s owed. It could also seek criminal charges.

“That’s going to be up to our attorneys and the state’s attorney and whoever is involved,” Farrell said when asked if charges are forthcoming. “I’d personally like to see, is there some repercussion for this? That has to go through the state’s attorney’s office, and an investigation has to be completed to learn all the facts before that can be determined.”

The forfeitures adjusted Fort Hill’s record from 7-2 to 2-7. Its seeding in the Maryland Class 1A West Region playoffs was dropped from No. 1 to No. 6, pitting it against third-seeded Allegany (4-5) in the opening-round of the playoffs on Friday.

Fort Hill is fortunate the anonymous report came prior to the Homecoming game, or its record 16-game winning streak in the annual rivalry game could have ended.

It also came before the playoffs began. If it had been reported after the first round of the playoffs, Fort Hill would have been disqualified.

Instead, Fort Hill will be tasked with winning four straight road games for a place in the Class 1A state championship game as it tries to win a fourth consecutive title.

The Sentinels have not won a road playoff game outside Allegany County since defeating Randallstown in the 1998 state semifinals.

“We always take rules seriously,” Alkire said. “We’re in the process of trying to clear our name, and we’re confident we did everything the right way. We look forward to the playoffs and hopefully making a deep run, regardless of the situation.

“A lot of this is just another challenge for our kids,” the coach said. “This group in particular has experienced a lot of different things. The staff has going back to COVID, too. It’s another chance to show our toughness and resilience and our championship mentality.”

STORYLINE: FORT HILL FOOTBALL FORFEITS GAMES DUE TO USE OF AN INELIGIBLE PLAYER
by Todd Helmick

PART I: HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

PART II - THE FATHER'S SIDE OF THE STORY

PART III - THE FINAL VERDICT