It’s Tough Enough to Lose Games on the Playing Field . . . : Players Find It Hard to Accept Giving Away Their Victories

“ That day, something died inside of me. There’s been something missing inside of me since that day. “

--Tom Goode,

Bolsa Grande defensive end

Bolsa Grande High School’s football program reached a pinnacle in the 28-year history of the school during the course of the 1987 season.

The Matadors were the toast of the county, riding a 20-game winning streak over two seasons. They were ranked No. 1 by the Orange County Sportswriters’ Assn. and favored to win a second straight Central Conference championship.

But three days before Bolsa Grande was scheduled to play Saddleback in the second round of the playoffs, vice principal Jim Monahan discovered that a player was ineligible while making a routine grade check.

The next day, Monahan told players and coaches that the school was forfeiting five victories and its Garden Grove League championship.

“It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever had to do in my 21 years in education,” Monahan said.

Monahan, who among other duties must monitor the eligibility of about 600 students, said administrators should have recognized the player was not eligible before the season began. But he said that the player’s record was not noticed; that, in effect, a clerical error had cost the team five victories.

The league’s principals voted to allow Bolsa Grande to continue in the playoffs, but the Matadors were never quite the same. They were upset by Saddleback, and suddenly the perfect season was over.

Nearly a month later, most of the players are still having difficulty understanding what happened. How did a championship season turn sour? Why were they penalized for an administrative error? Athletes at other schools are asking themselves the same questions after similar experiences.

“They took something away from us, and it’s very hard to accept,” said Tom Goode, the Bolsa Grande defensive end. “I still think about it all the time. I can’t get it off my mind. It was the biggest emotional strain I ever had to go through.”

Ricky Lepule was a member of the Matador backfield in which three players each gained more than 1,000 yards rushing. Lepule is a strong, gifted runner with excellent speed. But for a moment in his life, he felt helpless when the forfeitures were announced.

“We put our hearts into those games,” Lepule said. “But there was nothing we could do in this situation. We could practice to beat teams, but we couldn’t beat this (forfeitures). We felt helpless.”

Greg Shadid, Bolsa Grande coach, tried to encourage his players by repeatedly telling them that they were still in the playoffs and that they should set a goal of winning the conference championship.

Shadid said the players “took the news like men” and had their best practice of the season after meeting with Monahan. But Goode said something was missing when Bolsa Grande played Saddleback two days later.

“The night before the game, a bunch of players met at (senior end) Mike Robertson’s home,” Goode said. “We kept telling each other that we were still in the playoffs, that everything was OK. We were kidding each other.

“We tried to ignore the forfeits, but you could tell it was on everybody’s mind. It affected us emotionally and mentally against Saddleback. The final blow was losing to Saddleback.

“That was the last game I might ever play, and it left a bad taste with me. After the game, the team tried to sing the alma mater, and we couldn’t get through it. Everyone broke down and cried.”

Jesse Hardwick, a two-way tackle, was the largest player on the team at 6-feet 5-inches and 255 pounds. He has his college future ahead and has already planned recruiting trips to several major schools.

Hardwick finds it difficult to accept a punishment for a violation that was essentially an administrative oversight.

“We aren’t blaming the guy who was ineligible,” Hardwick said. “It was a mistake by someone in the front office. We had to pay for someone else’s mistake. We worked hard to be No. 1, to achieve something that has never happened at this school.

“I think the news hurt the coaches as much as the players. Looking back, we felt the thrill of the victories, and then we felt the pain when we had to forfeit those victories.”

Chris Leigber, Laguna Hills quarterback, said he was 100% certain that the Hawks would defeat Trabuco Hills in their last Pacific Coast League game and earn a berth in the Desert-Mountain Conference playoffs.

“It was the highest I’ve seen a team in four years that I played football at Laguna Hills,” Leigber said. “This school has qualified for the playoffs only once. We were going to be the second team to make the playoffs and everybody was up.”

But only hours before Laguna Hills played Trabuco Hills, Coach Paul Weinberger announced that the team was forfeiting two victories and a tie for using a 14-year-old player. California Interscholastic Federation rules state that all varsity players must be at least 15. The big game with Trabuco Hills was now the season-ender.

“One minute we were going for the playoffs, and the next minute the season was over,” Leigber said. “Boom, just like that. I couldn’t believe it.

“I kept telling myself, ‘This happens to other schools, but not us. This couldn’t be happening to us.’ You read about schools forfeiting games in the papers, but you never think it will happen to you.”

Weinberger said the violation was a mix-up between two boys with the same last name, one of whom was 14, the other 16.

“I took the responsibility for the mistake, but technically, it (the error) lied with the administration,” he said. “I was flabbergasted that it went through the safeguard system.

“We’re so careful about something like this. We double check everything. Now, we triple check everything.”

Brian Fleming, the county’s leading receiver with 66 receptions for 987 yards and 6 touchdowns, wonders if the punishment fit the crime.

“I could understand if our ineligible player was winning games by scoring three or four touchdowns and gaining 200 yards,” he said. “But we’re talking about a guy who played on the kickoff teams.”

Both Leigber and Fleming thought the Hawks played unemotionally in their loss to Trabuco Hills after the news of the forfeitures.

“I tried to tell the younger players that it was over and there was nothing we could do about it,” Fleming said. “Let’s go out and play. We tried to get the emotion going, but deep down inside, the forfeits were in the back of our minds.

“We played pretty well, but I’ll always wonder what would have happened in that game if we weren’t given the bad news. If we would have won the game, and then been told we had to forfeit the games, it could have been worse.

“There isn’t a good time to be told something like this. Bad news is bad news. But missing the playoffs because someone mixed up two players was a big disappointment.”

Two days ago, Westminster’s basketball team forfeited its first tournament championship in four seasons under Coach Dick Katz for failing to mail a transfer student’s transcripts to officials at the Southern Section office.

Katz blames himself for assuming the clerical work had been completed in the front office and the player was eligible.

“I’m the coach and the bottom line is I should have made sure,” he said. “I had assumed the paper work had been sent to the CIF and the kid was eligible.

“Coaches shouldn’t assume these days. The kids work so hard, it’s a shame to let any of that go to waste because of your mistake.”

Stan Thomas, Southern Section commissioner, told the section’s Executive Committee recently that he was concerned about the forfeitures this season.

“Nothing was official, but I mentioned the unusual amount of forfeitures with the committee,” Thomas said. “I brought up some thoughts of rather than penalizing kids by taking teams out of the playoffs, we should look for alternatives.

“Maybe we should allow teams in the playoffs and withhold all the money the school earns in the playoffs. Or maybe we fine schools.

“I absolutely hate to see kids denied when they’ve worked so hard. Maybe we need to take a long look at this before it reaches discussion.”