Why Hononegah’s football team had to forfeit only one game and not three

ROCKTON, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — Many of you have been scratching your heads wondering why Hononegah’s football team was forced to forfeit only it’s week three win against Harlem and not it’s opening two wins of the season as well.

Hononegah unknowingly used an ineligible transfer player in all three games. The problem was that the proper transfer paperwork hadn’t been completed. That was an oversight on the part of the school administration which was supposed to take care of the forms and submit them to the IHSA.

The player did nothing wrong. His family did nothing wrong. They moved to the Rockton area at the end of the last school year.

An administrator at Hononegah tells me that the IHSA determined that the player in question did not have a significant impact on the outcome of the first two games which were massive blowout wins by Hononegah over Rockford Auburn (48-6) and Rockford Jefferson (48-8). The player did have a significant impact with his performance in the win against Harlem. The final score of that game was 38-14, but it was much closer at halftime.

That and the fact that the violation was an unintended paperwork mix up is why the IHSA did not come down harder on the football team. Hononegah has been put on probation for the rest of the school year by the IHSA in addition to forfeiting the one game.

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