Venice must forfeit last season’s victories

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Venice will likely have to forfeit many of its victories in the 2006 football season because it used an ineligible player. The City Section Rules Committee will meet Tuesday to officially sanction the Gondoliers.

‘I haven’t heard from them officially,’ Coach Angelo Gasca said. ‘But it’s a done deal.’

Gasca said the school offered to forfeit the games because it learned too late that the player, who Gasca declined to identify, was not academically eligible. The student, who was senior last year, is no longer at Venice.

‘He came over here on a transfer and he came out late for football,’ Gasca said. ‘We screwed up. We inadvertently didn’t know his GPA was not up to par.’

Gasca said the senior played in nine games, missing one because of injury. Venice had a 9-3 overall record in 2006, reaching the City championship quarterfinals.

‘It’s obvious we have to forfeit. We were wrong,’ Gasca said. ‘We’ll just try and be diligent to keep it from happening again.’

- Mike Terry