In the latest update to the ongoing Long Beach and Southern California football transfer saga, the Long Beach Poly administration has confirmed that the Jackrabbits will forfeit a nonleague win over Tustin due to the use of an ineligible player. The Jackrabbits’ record now drops to 3-4 overall, and 3-0 in league with the forfeit.
The Poly administration declined to comment on the forfeit.
The Jackrabbits had previously had five transfers denied eligibility by the CIF Southern Section office this season, each of them receiving two-year bans from playing high school sports anywhere in California. All five of those players had been submitted to the CIF-SS transfer portal as “Sit Out Period” transfers, meaning that they weren’t playing while awaiting the Sit Out Period date–before finding out they’d been ruled ineligible.
The sixth player who was recently denied and banned did play in one game after initially being ruled a Valid Change of Residence transfer; the game he played in was Poly’s 28-27 win over Tustin. By CIF-SS rule, that game is now being forfeited due to use of an ineligible player.
It’s been a busy year for transfer news in Long Beach and around Southern California. The CIF-SS has now ruled 15 Moore League transfers ineligible and banned them for two years, with six at Poly, eight at Millikan, and one at Compton. Poly has forfeit a game and Millikan forfeited two as part of a wider crackdown by the CIF-SS that has seen athletes at more than 30 schools come under investigation for falsifying address change paperwork.
Bishop Montgomery had 19 transfers ruled ineligible at the start of the year, kicking off a months-long saga of banning that has at this point reached more than halfway through the regular season.
The issue has become widespread throughout the region and certainly in Long Beach. In addition to the players banned under Bylaw 202 (falsifying documents), at Poly, Millikan and Compton, there have been other players deemed ineligible at other schools. A Jordan transfer was ruled “limited eligibility” by the CIF-SS two weeks ago, restricting him to JV or lower levels play only. Last year, Wilson had five transfers listed as “denied” and ineligible at Wilson for a year due to following a head coach from one school to another.
Lakewood has been the school that’s taken in the least transfers–this year they have just three school-wide thus far. That’s prevented the Lancers from having eligibility issues this year; one Lakewood player who transferred out of the school to Bishop Montgomery is among the banned players there who is now playing out of state in Arizona.
At a recent CIF-SS council meeting Commissioner Mike West said “We had a real influx of fraudulent paperwork. It’s been significant and very disheartening” according to the LA Times. West also mentioned that the CIF office has become “very adept at identifying” fraudulent transfer information.
When asked about what methods the CIF office is using, assistant commissioner Thom Simmon said in an email, “I would not want to get into specifics on that information. I will simply say that we are using all means necessary.”
The forfeit confirmed by Poly is their first in football since 2015, when an ineligible player participated in three Moore League games which the Jackrabbits then forfeit. That led to Wilson being crowned the Moore League champions and Poly missing the playoffs for the first time since 1979 (which was also the last time they’d forfeit games).
Because the ineligible player didn’t play in a Moore League game (as was the case at Millikan), this forfeit will not impact the league standings.
