Douglas County forfeits 3 football wins over transfer violation, GHSA confirms
Douglas County will make no further appeals to the GHSA’s ruling on two ineligible players, meaning the Tigers must forfeit three victories won in September, GHSA executive director Tim Scott confirmed Thursday.
Victories over Douglass, Rome and Carver of Columbus from September have been overturned.
One of the two players — both starters — won his appeal, and the other did not, Scott said. The ineligible player participated in all three games. The GHSA ruled the player did not make a legal move into his new school district upon transferring, Scott said.
Douglas County’s record is now 2-6, and its standing in the Post Season Rankings in Class 7A falls to No. 36 from No. 18, according to the Maxwell Ratings calculations. The top 32 teams in each class make the playoffs.
Douglas County may still qualify by beating Chapel Hill this week and Westlake on Nov. 6.
Douglas County was ranked No. 4 in preseason and reached the Class 6A quarterfinals last year and state semifinals the two seasons before that. The Tigers have not missed the playoffs since 2019.
In past seasons, these forfeits would have little effect on the playoffs because they involved non-region games.
This season, all games count in the PSR, which determines playoff teams and seeds in all eight playoff classifications.
According to the Maxwell Ratings’ projections of the final PSR, Douglas County will finish 35th. That would change if Douglas County can win out. Maxwell considers Douglas County the underdog against ninth-ranked Westlake.
Maxwell projects that Collins Hill will take Douglas County’s place in the 7A draw as the No. 32 seed.
The teams getting the forfeit wins will benefit. According to Maxwell, Douglass will rise to No. 9 from No. 14 in Class 4A PSR, Carver will rise to No. 14 from No. 16 in 3A, and Rome will rise to No. 39 from No. 45 in 6A but miss the playoffs. The projections are based on how the final two regular-season weeks will play out.
Teams in Westlake’s Region 2 will lose ground because their opponents’ winning percentage, a key PSR component, will suffer with Westlake’s poorer won-lost record.
Westlake will drop to No. 11 from No. 8, and East Coweta will drop to No. 17 from No. 14, according to Maxwell. If accurate, each would lose a home playoff game.