Friendly is latest team hit with forfeits

A hearing regarding Friendly’s football team was held Monday. Hawkins said that ‘‘there will be forfeits” handed to Friendly for using a player who did not reside within the boundaries of the Fort Washington school. Hawkins added that the amount of forfeits ‘‘will be based on what specific games in which that player participated.”

Friendly head football coach George Earley said Tuesday evening after his Patriots defeated Largo, 42-7, that he planned to file an appeal on the ruling today, when Friendly Principal Edward Ryans is due back from a business trip.

On the field, Friendly (8-0 overall, 6-0 in the County 3A⁄2A⁄1A League) has won 22 consecutive games including the Class 3A state championship last season. The Patriots have won 25 consecutive regular season games and have outscored their opponents this fall, 311-31. Largo’s first-quarter touchdown on Tuesday were the first points Friendly has allowed in six weeks. The Patriots are the No. 1-ranked team in a poll of statewide reporters and No. 28 nationally on Rivals.com’s Fab 50. They also hold the No. 1 seed in the Class 3A South Region playoff standings.

Forfeits could seriously jeopardize Friendly’s opportunity to return to the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin in two weeks. Friendly’s coaching staff said it had all the required paperwork turned in to Hawkins’ office prior to the start of the season.

‘‘This is a total surprise because the county had all the information that they needed with residency at the beginning of the season in their office,” said Earley, adding this is the first time in his coaching career that he has ever had to deal with such allegations. ‘‘The county had everything. If there was a problem, we should have been notified. Nothing was trying to be snuck under the table or hidden. All the documentation was turned into Earl Hawkins at the end of August.

‘‘We asked [at the hearing] why did it take so long to do this, and they couldn’t answer. That’s what we want to know. They didn’t say anything to us.”

Earley said the player in question has been enrolled at Friendly for the past three years, and that the same paperwork on him has been turned in every year. But no concerns have been raised until now.

‘‘We haven’t done anything wrong,” said Earley. ‘‘I tell my kids we haven’t done anything wrong, so there’s no sense in us playing like we’re guilty of something. We’re not guilty of anything.”

Tuesday, Friendly quarterback Thomas Jenkins (7 of 10 for 125 yards) threw touchdown passes of 23 and 27 yards to Carlos Davis, while Josh Haden, Lamaar Thomas and Isaiah Fulton all ran for touchdowns. Haden nearly had another touchdown, but he fumbled at the goal line and senior lineman Quinton Sales recovered the loose ball in the end zone for the touchdown. Haden finished with a game-high 107 yards on 21 carries.

Friendly had a 330-68 edge over Largo in total yards from scrimmage. Thirty of those yards for the Lions came on a first-quarter touchdown run by William Dawson.

E-mail Adam Rubenstein atarubenstein@gazette.net.