OHSAA rejects appeal by St. Ed

10/16/2004

LAKEWOOD - The Ohio High School Athletic Association yesterday rejected an appeal by Lakewood St. Edward, which had tried to overturn the forfeit of four wins for using an ineligible football player.

"As you can well imagine, we are deeply disappointed in the decision," said Eugene W. Boyer, principal of St. Edward.

St. Edward, which had started 6-0, has a 3-4 record going into today's St. Ignatius game.

The all-boys school with an enrollment of just over 650 students was ranked No. 2 in big-school Division I when it was forced to forfeit wins over Cincinnati St. Xavier, Lakewood, Akron Central-Hower and Warren Harding. The ineligible student did not participate in wins over Maple Heights and Washington, D.C., Coolidge.

The forfeits dropped the 6-0 team to 2-4. St. Edward improved to 3-4 with last week's win over Massillon Washington and is now ranked No. 7.

St. Edward will need to win its final three-regular season games to have a chance to qualify for the state playoffs. Today the Eagles will play arch-rival St. Ignatius. St Ed's final two games are against Cincinnati Moeller on Oct. 23 and Benedictine on Oct. 30.