Bleedred4life said:

The call has been made, and the punishment handed out. The Fort Hill girls' softball team will forfeit their entire season. This is because one of those girls has a relative who went to Fort Hill several decades ago and offered a room. Of course, this was to the Keyser coach, but this was close enough to punish those south-end kids. Besides, I'm hearing that these girls weren't pretty enough to attend Fort Hill anyway. We all know that there is a standard!

Joking aside, WV has a transfer issue for the entire State that is just off the hook. I don't know if I could even explain how this system works and sound rational.

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Before you know it West Va. high school teams will be allowing transfers at halftime or the middle of the 3rd inning.

The call has been made, and the punishment handed out. The Fort Hill girls' softball team will forfeit their entire season. This is because one of those girls has a relative who went to Fort Hill several decades ago and offered a room. Of course, this was to the Keyser coach, but this was close enough to punish those south-end kids. Besides, I'm hearing that these girls weren't pretty enough to attend Fort Hill anyway. We all know that there is a standard!

Joking aside, WV has a transfer issue for the entire State that is just off the hook. I don't know if I could even explain how this system works and sound rational.

Common sense37 said:

From what I am hearing, this is Mountain Ridge schedule
@ Southern
@ Boonboro
Allegany
Clear Spring
@ Frankfort
@ Fort Hill
Northern
Williamsport
Keyser

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Interesting to see that Catoctin and Frederick were replaced with Boonsboro and Clear Spring. Still a very decent schedule for a 1A school. I personally like the challenge of having Frederick on the schedule.

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Wow, this might be a first, but I agree with OneRing. I don't see where the Coaches or kids did anything wrong. However, Dad and the Board could have handled things better. (Just being a Monday morning QB.) Actually, the "concerned called" from Mineral County, could have gone to the school or coaching staff first, but that would have bypassed all the drama. This "concerned person" wanted to hurt as many FH students as possible.

Now we may have another issue. If President Trump gets his school choice agenda passed, how is it going to affect students transferring? It looks to me that these transfer rules will become moot points.

Lagmeister said:

Speaking of nobody caring.....if your aunt had balls few would care that she'd be a tranny.... that is... unless auntie were wearing 6-inch stiletto thigh-high stretch boots and little else during a drag queen story hour at the library.

Still, you raise a valid point as to why put the high-profile athlete on the team when there were enough issues to go to the BOE about.... and did the BOE think that since the coach put 'em on the team that they weren't going to stand in the way.

Still.... how do the student athletes get their season back? How does the program get its image back? All this pussyfootin' and poontangin' around about kids crossing town to play football never was the issue. The issue is how a high-profile athlete from out of state manages to get on and stay on the football team long enough to trash it.

Bottom line for me is not why this happened but rather why did this take so long to happen. Was this out of state thing new and therefore nobody really knew how to handle it.... or, more logical is that it has happened frequently and finally exploded at the school a whole lot of folks were envious of.

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Honestly, the only people who'd care about that are fine when a scout leader crawls into a sleeping bag with a cub scout or when the president brags about walking through a dressing room while underage girls are changing. So their hypocrisy disqualifies their opinion.

I'm just curious about this mythical lost season that you speak of? What team lost a season?

And we just had a FH manifesto released trying to salvage the programs image (which was never tarnished anyway). I think it will be okay.

FHHSAHS said:

And FH threw for a little over 600. Pretty similar. But yeah, they did throw a little more.

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I wouldn’t have guessed that. I guess they did have a few short passes that the backs would take for big gains that probably helped inflate that number. I remember one of the 2010’s teams that won the title that might not have even thrown for 400 yards regular and post season combined.

Tony54 said:

Bridgeport threw for 811 yards this year. It’s true look it up. If you put a lot of men upfront, they always throw over the top.

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And FH threw for a little over 600. Pretty similar. But yeah, they did throw a little more.

Lots of wins on that schedule. Don't sleep on Clear Spring, I believe that they have some decent kids coming back. Plus, their Coach is doing a bang-up job with what he has.

I would guess DeMatha. I would think that FH has had maybe 14 to 20 over the years, maybe more. Just an attempt to count, FH had, I believe, 7 on UMD's National Championship team, and since then; Alkire, Trimble, Peck, I'm thinking Brad Benson (Could be wrong), Datri, Mangus, and Johnson. I could be missing some, plus I don't know prior to MD's National title. At any rate, I would like to see DeMatha's numbers. It wouldn't surprise me if they have sent 0 to60 kids to the Terps.

From what I am hearing, this is Mountain Ridge schedule
@ Southern
@ Boonboro
Allegany
Clear Spring
@ Frankfort
@ Fort Hill
Northern
Williamsport
Keyser

Probably Dematha or a similar school

FHHSAHS said:

How many passes do you think Bridgeport is going to throw next year? If there's a team that throws even less than FH, it's the Indians. And they've lived by it for years of domination. I wonder if their fans sit around talking about why they don't throw more passes?

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Bridgeport threw for 811 yards this year. It’s true look it up. If you put a lot of men upfront, they always throw over the top.

Fort Hill is a great football program. Because of that greatness a lot of good has come their way. State Chamionships, state records, recognition locally, regionally and nationally. A player who has made it to the pro's and is having an excellent career and numerous players advacning to the next level and helping get their education paid for by using the skills developed at Fort Hill.

However with all the good also comes some bad. When you are that good for that long you will always have someone looking to take you out either on the field or off through accusations, rumours, etc. You will also have players and parents wanting to flock to the program not for the good of the program but for selfish and greedy reasons with disregard to what Fort Hill has created.

Someone who works within the program told me last spring that they felt all of the success had made some of the players complacent and that winning and championships did not mean as much to some of the players within the program. They felt that perhaps some adversity might serve them well.

The good within this bad situation with the ineligibile player and all that has ensued is that the players have learned how to overcome and perservere. They have seen adversity that they have never experienced (away games, long bus rides, losses per se, questions about program integrity, etc) but they learned that they can work through these things. That life lessons may serve them far greater than another championship.

They may have learned that not all are interested in becoming part of their program for the sake of the program or school but just to attach themselves to it, hoping for personal gain from something that many before them have sacrificed to build.

Let's not do a disservice to these young men by telling them they are victims. When you cultivate the mindset that you are a victim you become incapable of reaching you empower your enemies. Bad things happen to good people but good people become great people by working through bad things!

Lagmeister said:

If the coach of one of the best programs in the state merely decides not to uniform a player.... any player... because they are not a good fit or they don't fill a needed slot.... ugh... why would there be ramifications? Or is it that said coach has already announced the kid is on the team pending a review... still, why would the coach take the kid in the first place knowing (what a whole lot of people apparently knew) that there was a cloud over the young man.

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My understanding is that once a student is eligible to attend a school, he is eligible to participate in any extracurricular activities. My point is could you imagine this kid being the only kid in school not allowed to participate, or be cut, without real provocation. Apparently fit in well, was talented enough, and eligible.

Lagmeister said:

Speaking of nobody caring.....if your aunt had balls few would care that she'd be a tranny.... that is... unless auntie were wearing 6-inch stiletto thigh-high stretch boots and little else during a drag queen story hour at the library.

Still, you raise a valid point as to why put the high-profile athlete on the team when there were enough issues to go to the BOE about.... and did the BOE think that since the coach put 'em on the team that they weren't going to stand in the way.

Still.... how do the student athletes get their season back? How does the program get its image back? All this pussyfootin' and poontangin' around about kids crossing town to play football never was the issue. The issue is how a high-profile athlete from out of state manages to get on and stay on the football team long enough to trash it.

Bottom line for me is not why this happened but rather why did this take so long to happen. Was this out of state thing new and therefore nobody really knew how to handle it.... or, more logical is that it has happened frequently and finally exploded at the school a whole lot of folks were envious of.

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Could not agree more!! Though it is my understanding that the coach and administrators did go back to the BOE, questioning and or double checking his eligibility. Were told he is good to go, wasn’t until after that 2nd confirmation did the kid see the field.

OneRing said:

I think he means you need to stop inventing slights against the FH program that don't exist.

As has been said a million times, if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. As others have said, had the coaching staff not played a player they themselves thought was invalid, none of this would have happened.

There's a lot of ifs in this story, ifs that only a handful of people care about. Which is why no one has covered it. Most people forgot about it.

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Had you even considered the ramifications and consequences FH might have faced if they singled out a particular BOE deemed eligible player and not allowed him to play.

some in this area are either blind or intentionally stupid. there has ben a handful of big time players on alco, fh, ridge that live in a different state since 2000. One was a basketball player of the year for alco. everyone knew it at the board. But now all of the sudden fh football is gone to forfeit games and suspend over it. This was about fh football period from the anon calls, to boe, to new rules applied, the whole wax.

TDHelmick said:

Don't mean this in disrespect, but move on if you choose. It's easy. "All of us" can make up our own minds. I still have a final Part III coming out.

The story needed told. As I keep repeating...had this all went down a week later, FH has their season ended. That's a problem that deserves the attention.

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I think he means you need to stop inventing slights against the FH program that don't exist.

As has been said a million times, if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle. As others have said, had the coaching staff not played a player they themselves thought was invalid, none of this would have happened.

There's a lot of ifs in this story, ifs that only a handful of people care about. Which is why no one has covered it. Most people forgot about it.

Waggle Pass said:

So you make more than $500 thousand?

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Governor Moore is proposing a home delivery tax of .75 cents per delivery to anyone's home from a retailer or business that make $500,000 plus. This includes Walmart, Amazon, Grub Hub, Door Dash, etc. The businesses are not going to eat this and the $225 million expected tax reveune is going to be passed on to Marylanders. So yes, regardless if an individual is wealthy or not, all Marylanders will have to pay this tax. I expect be taxed by at least $273 per year if this propsal is passed.

It may be lost in my presentation, I DO agree that there needs to be clear and concise adherence to out of state transfer issues - does that mean new policies need created or more strict attention to the policies that exist - I dont know. It doesn't seem to be that pervasive - however it is ironic that this year there were two publicly discussed situations that were handled very differently with out of state transfers. One from WV to MD and another from MD to WV. I have no dog in the fight or insight into the process of going from MD to WV, but my assumption is it was done correctly as there was no fallout. But I digress...my concern is not about the "why," if families make decisions to send their kids wherever, that's their decision and its between them and their respective BOEs.

But we can't lose sight of the fact that if you don't do it the right way, especially if you intentionally are doing it in a sketchy way, existing policy may not be clear enough on figuring that out ahead of time. And you are going to create a real mess. As we've seen. Can the BOE do better, probably. But do I think the ACBOE policies were the reason this became a mess, no.

ravemwp said:

In actuality it has always been going on in Cumberland. For instance when FH won its first state championship in 1975, it was no secret that their original starting QB lived right smack dab in the middle of Allegany territory. People have always found ways to circumvent the system. I don’t claim to know the answers, but I do believe we do need bring the system into the 21st century. Maybe someone can clarify the Allegany County school district’s. It’s my understanding that one of the most important factors was transportation to and from the closest school. If someone can clarify that, please do. I am not positive on that. Transportation in 1925 is not the same as 2025.

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You are correct about FH’s QB in ‘75. He lived on the same street as Braddock Middle School. Unfortunately, due to illness, he was not able to finish the ‘75 season.

As I know it, the ACPS permits in-county transfers (out of district permits) as long as parents/guardians provide transportation to the school.

There is a formal process that needs to be followed.

School administrators can accept or reject an out of district permit. Often times such decisions are made based on the requesting transfer’s past attendance, past grades, the reason for the request, and past behavior.

Again, the previous is based on an in county transfer.

Regarding a student living out of county or out of state, proof of residence in Allegany County would be needed or the $18,000.00 tuition fee would need to be paid. Transportation would need to be provided by the family, too.

wvbossman said:

This is common in WV also. Maryland has the MPSSA and WV has the WVSSAC. They are the governing bodies of high school sports in their respective states. They are far from perfect but the have the impossible job of enforcing rules that everyone likes to break and then find ways to project the blame on the organization or circumvent the consequences from their actions which often includes ending up in court.

Ironically it was not like that for decades, Minor issues yes, but the ongoing chaos that they have to deal with now, no way. There is no respect for authority anymore which is a big reason why we have shortages of teachers, police, game officials and coaches. You reap waht you sow.

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In actuality it has always been going on in Cumberland. For instance when FH won its first state championship in 1975, it was no secret that their original starting QB lived right smack dab in the middle of Allegany territory. People have always found ways to circumvent the system. I don’t claim to know the answers, but I do believe we do need bring the system into the 21st century. Maybe someone can clarify the Allegany County school district’s. It’s my understanding that one of the most important factors was transportation to and from the closest school. If someone can clarify that, please do. I am not positive on that. Transportation in 1925 is not the same as 2025.