May River High ordered to forfeit football, basketball wins over improper student transfer
May River High School was ordered to forfeit 17 football and basketball games from its 2018 records, including a regional championship game, following a November ruling from the South Carolina High School League that the school improperly handled an unnamed student-athlete’s transfer.
The high school was also ordered to pay a $500 fine for the violation “that has been paid using student activity funds raised through ticket sales at athletic events and other fund raisers,” district spokesman Jim Foster said in a Friday statement.
Foster declined to confirm or deny any action taken by the district against May River coaches or administrators, citing employee privacy laws. He confirmed that the violation was “administrative in nature” and that the school’s head football coach and principals had not changed since 2018.
The school self-reported the violation last month and received a decision from the league on Nov. 19 that they would forfeit all games where the student was “in uniform,” Foster said.
The unnamed student-athlete transferred to May River in August 2018 and provided an affidavit “that demonstrated a change in legal guardianship” to a resident in the May River attendance zone, Foster said.
“The SCHSL requires a court document to establish athletic eligibility,” Foster wrote Friday. “The student’s affidavit, while sufficient for enrollment purposes, did not meet SCHSL regulations.”
The May River Sharks football team was ordered to forfeit 10 games from their 12-1 2018 season:
- 8/17/18 vs. Savannah Memorial Day
- 8/24/18 vs. Bluffton
- 8/31/18 vs. Whale Branch
- 9/7/18 vs. Hilton Head
- 9/28/18 vs. Lake Marion
- 10/5/18 vs. Ridgeland
- 10/12/18 vs. Beaufort
- 10/26/18 vs. Wade Hampton
- 11/10/18 vs. Lake City
- 11/17/18 vs. Gilbert
The Oct. 26 game against Wade Hampton was the 2018 Region 7-3A championship, which the May River Sharks won 35-14 for the team’s first ever regional championship.
Foster said Friday that Wade Hampton will decide whether or not they wish to accept the regional championship, and that the district had not received a decision from them yet.
In 2019, the Sharks went 10-3 in football and made it to their first-ever state semifinal game, where they lost 35-28 to Dillon in November’s Class 3A Lower State championship.
The district declined to list the seven basketball games they were ordered to forfeit “because doing so might identify the individual student in question, which would violate federal privacy laws,” Foster wrote.
The Sharks went 14-8 in their 2018-19 basketball season, with 10 of the 22 games in 2018.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 3:39 PM.