Ineligible Player Costs Alta Loma Five Wins

Alta Loma High’s football team, which outscored opponents, 126-31, in winning five nonleague games, must forfeit the victories because it used an ineligible player, a three-member Southern Section appeals panel ruled Monday.

Adam Fakatoumafi, a defensive back, fell short of meeting academic standards required by Rule 205 of the section’s constitution and bylaws, panel member Ken Gunn said.

“He lacked credits on his previous grading period and he was not on progress to graduation,” said Gunn, principal of Walnut High.

Fakatoumafi, a transfer, attended Fontana last fall and did not attend school last spring. He attended Valley View, a Chaffey Joint Union High School District continuation school, in the summer, maintaining a 3.0 grade-point average for 10 units, Gunn said. He was 10 units shy of eligibility and his grades during the previous fall semester fell short of the required 2.0 GPA, panel members said.

Gunn and panel members John Dahlem and Clark Stephens heard appeals from Fakatoumafi’s family and Alta Loma Principal Bill Bertrand before voting to uphold the decision made originally by section Commissioner James Staunton.

The ruling means Fakatoumafi will not be eligible to compete in athletics until a new semester begins, in January.

Alta Loma, ranked No. 20 in Southern California by The Times, drops to 2-5. Fakatoumafi was not in uniform for the Braves’ Mount Baldy League victories over Montclair and Etiwanda.

Claremont, Glendora, Palmdale, Paramount and Upland pick up the nonleague victories by forfeit.