UPDATED: Penalties - But No Forfeits - Handed Down to Edison

By Phil Murphy and Angela Watts
DigitalSports.com

Edison High School’s athletic department has confirmed that the school was found to have inadvertently violated a Virginia High School League rule that made one of its players ineligible for several games.

The Eagles self-reported the violation to the state.

Accordingly, the VHSL assigned penalties to the school that include a formal letter of warning, a $1,000 fine and a requirement to submit a plan-of-action to show how it will prevent such incidents in the future.

But the Eagles, who are undefeated on the season at 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the National District, will not have to forfeit any of their victories, and the player in question will remain on the team for the remainder of the season.

“Our principal came to practice and told our players that they didn’t have to forfeit games,” longtime Edison Coach Vaughn Lewis said on Wednesday. “They were really happy. And I was happy for them. They didn’t do anything wrong. Since the kids weren’t involved — which was the situation — we were really happy that this came down that way. Because the kids didn’t do anything wrong and [forfeiture] would have cost them.”

Edison is the top-rated team in Division 5 in the Northern Region by the VHSL’s rating system that determines playoff seeding. The Eagles currently have a rating of 30.0 — second best in the state to Phoebus — while defending Division 5 state champion Stone Bridge, which is also unbeaten this season, holds a rating of 28.6.

“As soon as we found out there was a violation — or potential violation — we reported it to the state,” said Lewis, whose team has appeared in the past three Northern Region Division 5 championship games. “We let our kids know right away and let the player know there was a possibility of having to forfeit games. Any time you report yourself to the state, there’s that possibility.

“We didn’t feel like he was ineligible according to the guidelines. But the state guidelines and the county guidelines are totally different. It was just miscommunication between adults. I’m glad they found the
way they did because we felt the kids shouldn’t have been punished.
We’re happy with just a fine, and we think the VHSL did the right
thing.

“Adults make mistakes. We assumed when we shouldn’t have assumed. That’s why we have to come up with a plan to prevent this from happening again.”

Lewis praised his team’s ability to play under the pressure of the ongoing investigation. On Friday, Edison defeated Stuart, 57-6, recording more than 400 yards of offense. A week prior, it knocked out Yorktown, 38-0, on the road.

“They handled it really well,” Lewis said. “Our feeling was, and the team’s feeling was, that we hadn’t done anything wrong. Even if we did have to forfeit the games, in our hearts we knew we were still undefeated. I was very impressed with the maturity of our kids in how they handled it. This team grew closer together through this process.”