Antelope Valley still in playoff dance despite forfeits

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While trying to keep warm on the sidelines at the Royal-Highland wild-card soccer game on Wednesday, I started talking with Highland assistant principal John Bergstrom about how the boys’ basketball team would do this postseason.

We both agreed the Kyisean Reed-led Bulldogs looked good for a first-round victory over Camarillo on Friday, but Bergstrom also told me about some Golden League news I didn’t know about.

It turns out Antelope Valley had to forfeit four victories this week for using an eligible player in its last six league games. However, the discovery (or announcement) wasn’t made until after the playoff brackets were made, so the Antelopes were allowed to stay in the postseason despite dropping to sixth in the eight-team Golden League (Rule 3211-B; page 246 of Blue Book). Check out what the Daily News had to say on the AV discovery and the costly paperwork issues Vasquez’s girls’ soccer team endured.

The good news about the forfeits is Lancaster was officially bumped up into a three-way tie for the league title alongside Knight and Highland. The bad news is Littlerock and Quartz Hill (which tied for fourth) didn’t have the chance to coin-flip their way into the postseason. That hurts.

As for Antelope Valley, they’ll have their hands full against Pac-7 League champions Righetti on Friday.

-- Austin Knoblauch

-- Image from www.fws.gov