Principals Decide to Send Garden Grove (2-5) to Playoffs : Prep football: Despite forfeits, Argonauts will receive No. 2 spot from Garden Grove League. Playoff status for Los Amigos and Pacifica is uncertain.

After several hours in limbo, the Garden Grove High football team learned Saturday that it will participate in the Southern Section football playoffs despite forfeiting four Garden Grove League games last week for using an ineligible player.

In a majority decision by the principals of the eight league member schools, the Argonauts (4-6 and 2-5 in league, with the forfeits) will be the league’s No. 2 entry in the section Division VII playoffs that start Friday.

League champion Rancho Alamitos will be No. 1, and Kennedy has the third automatic qualifying spot.

The group also recommended Los Amigos for consideration for the only at-large berth available in the division. Whether the Lobos get it is up to the section’s four-person at-large playoff committee, which meets this morning before the pairings are announced.

Although the forfeits against Santiago, La Quinta, Bolsa Grande and Kennedy wrecked Garden Grove’s record, the league constitution allows principals to choose the teams they believe will be most representative in the playoffs.

“The league makes the (playoff) entries, so they can determine how they want it,” said Scott Cathcart, the Southern Section director of media and public relations. “It’s up to the league constitution.”

The forfeits, which Garden Grove Coach Jeff Buenafe said were caused by a clerical error that allowed a player with a grade-point average below the 2.0 required by the section to play in the four games, played havoc with the league standings.

Without the forfeits, Rancho Alamitos and Garden Grove would have tied for the league title at 6-1, followed by Los Amigos and Kennedy, both 4-2-1. Rancho Alamitos would have been the No. 1 playoff entry because it defeated the Argonauts, and Los Amigos would have been No. 3 because it defeated Rancho Alamitos after tying Kennedy.

With the forfeits--and leaving out Garden Grove, which dropped into a tie with Santiago for sixth--Rancho Alamitos is first, Kennedy (5-1-1) second, Los Amigos (4-2-1) third and Pacifica (4-3) fourth and in position for the at-large entry.

But the decision by the principals put Los Amigos in the bubble and probably bumped Pacifica out of the playoffs. The decision didn’t sit well with Pacifica Coach Bill Craven.

“There were no infractions in our program. What lessons are we teaching our kids? It’s unfair to a lot of people,” Craven said. “I’ll still be down there (Sunday) morning. That’s when they post the pairings.”

Los Amigos Coach Steve Bolton, whose team pulled off a major upset Thursday by defeating Rancho Alamitos, 18-17, is not happy either. He said the decision by the principals to submit Kennedy as the third entry ahead of the Lobos isn’t correct. Kennedy and Los Amigos tied, 20-20.

“According to what the league constitution says, Rancho should be first, Grove should be second, and we should be third because we beat the best team in the league,” Bolton said. “It seems they counted the forfeits to move Kennedy ahead of us. They (Fighting Irish) should be behind us. We got the short end of the stick.”

Buenafe, on the other hand, offered a different perspective.

“I think the decision was good and justified because it doesn’t hurt 40 other kids on the team who put out an honest effort all year long,” he said. “To me, what happened on the field speaks for itself. . . . The kid in question really wasn’t a factor in any of the games. He had no bearing at all in those games.”