El Camino Real Receives Forfeit Victory

Fairfax High on Monday forfeited a City Section 4-A Division football playoff game to El Camino Real because of a shortage of academically eligible players. The first-round game was scheduled for Wednesday night at Canoga Park High.

Fairfax co-Coach Earl Smith, who is also dean of students, recommended to school administrators that the game be forfeited after Smith verified that nine of 27 players on the varsity had been declared academically ineligible. Fairfax administrators approved the recommendation and notified the City Section athletics office, which briefly considered ordering the Lions to play the game, but relented.

“We can’t force a team to play with 20 players or whatever,” said Lee Joseph, a City administrator. “If we make them play and one kid gets hurt, they’d sue the hell out of us.”

Fairfax (3-5-1) finished third in the Metro League. El Camino Real (4-5) placed second in the West Valley League.

Joseph said substituting a team for Fairfax was not considered--a thought that Smith admitted had crossed his mind last week when Fairfax defeated last-place Hamilton.

“I told them what the situation was, that we might have to forfeit and asked if they were interested in going (to the playoffs in place of Fairfax),” Smith said. “They said, ‘No thanks.’

“With our record, I’m not sure we deserved to be there anyway.”

El Camino Real will play North Valley League champion Granada Hills (10-0) in the second round Dec. 1.

Granada Hills defeated the Conquistadores, 21-0, last month.

El Camino Real co-Coach Mike Maio said that he was informed of the forfeit before Monday’s practice. The team wasted little time shifting gears.

“They came out and told us, and we went back in and fired up the Granada Hills game film,” Maio said.

Elsewhere in the 4-A bracket, Crenshaw defeated Banning in a California tiebreaker Monday and will play at San Fernando (5-5) in the first round.