Campbell Hall Likely to Lose Eight Victories : High school basketball: Southern Section rules top-ranked team in Division V used an ineligible player.

The Campbell Hall High boys’ basketball team, top-ranked in Southern Section Division V, probably will forfeit eight games because a section inquiry has determined that the team used an ineligible player.

Following a decision rendered after a section hearing Wednesday, Campbell Hall, the defending Division V-AA champion, is expected to forfeit every victory in which forward Rowan Pearson appeared, section Commissioner Stan Thomas said Thursday.

Pearson is a junior transfer from Granada Hills High who entered the week averaging 10.6 points and six rebounds. He has not played in the team’s past two games while awaiting a determination of his eligibility.

Campbell Hall Headmaster Tom Clarke said Thursday that the school probably will not appeal the decision. If Campbell Hall does not appeal, the forfeitures will stand, said Thomas, who declined further comment.

Said Clarke: “We are taking stock (of the matter). As of (Thursday) morning, we have decided we’re not going to make use of the appeals process.”

The forfeitures, which include six Delphic League victories, probably would cost the team a berth in the playoffs. Campbell Hall, which has played in the Division V-AA final in each of the past two seasons, would see its overall record fall from 12-8 to 4-16 and its league mark tumble from 8-1 to 2-7, excluding Thursday’s game.

Providence Athletic Director Paul Sutton, who attended the section hearing Wednesday and played a central role in the inquiry, said the investigation centered on Pearson’s home address. Pearson’s family lived in Northridge when he attended Granada Hills. The family claimed to have moved into a Van Nuys apartment in order to satisfy the section’s change-of-address requirement needed to establish athletic eligibility, Sutton said.

However, Sutton said an investigation by section administrators Friday determined that the family was still living in Northridge. Sutton said he was alarmed that section rules were being violated and “started my own investigation.”

Providence competes in the Delphic League in track and field, and its basketball team, coached by Sutton, plays in Division V-AA with Campbell Hall.

“We were concerned with the integrity of the Division V playoffs,” Sutton said.

Oakwood Athletic Director Eric Walter, whose school is a Delphic member in soccer and track and whose basketball team also plays in Division V-AA, confirmed that he staked out Pearson’s residence in Northridge on six occasions and found that the player was still living there.

Sutton and Walter informed Thomas and section basketball administrator Dean Crowley of their findings Jan. 28. “(Thomas and Crowley) were so upset they drove out to Pearson’s house the next day,” Sutton said.

According to Sutton, Thomas and Crowley reportedly spoke to some members of the Pearson family who were still residing at the house. When a player seeks varsity eligibility through a change of address, the entire family must move unless the parents are divorced or one parent has been given sole guardianship, according to section rules.

Pearson’s eligibility has been an on-again, off-again proposition all season. Pearson, who started the season on the varsity, played several games for the junior varsity over the holiday break while the school reviewed his eligibility.

Sutton and Walter became disgruntled after no action was taken at a Dec. 15 meeting of Delphic League administrators called to discuss several complaints regarding the alleged recruitment of players at several member schools.

“I walked out of that meeting absolutely appalled,” said Sutton, who also sought information regarding transfers at two other Delphic schools.

In early January, Pearson rejoined the varsity in time for league play. According to the section, if Campbell Hall chooses not to appeal the sanctions, it must immediately notify all league schools that will be granted victories via forfeit so that league standings can be adjusted. The section playoff field will be finalized Feb. 14.

The top four teams from the seven-member Delphic League automatically advance to postseason play. Because Campbell Hall probably will not have the requisite 10 victories to petition for an at-large berth, its playoff chances are slim.

However, the team could be voted into the playoffs by league administrators. Last fall, the Garden Grove High football team was forced to forfeit several games for using an ineligible player. Administrators from the Garden Grove League nonetheless voted to send the school into the playoffs.

At least one Delphic League member was pleased by the ruling.

“I think they got intoxicated by winning,” Buckley boys’ basketball Coach Byrd Milic said. “They wanted to go from the outhouse to the penthouse too darn fast.”

Campbell Hall had never had a winning season in boys’ basketball until 1990-91, when it advanced to the Division V-AA final.