Malverne appeal of forfeit denied

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One of Malverne’s biggest football victories in more than two decades will go down in the record book as a forfeit, but head coach Kito Lockwood couldn’t be more proud of his team’s 32-30 upset of top-seeded Seaford in Conference IV action on Oct. 24.

The use of an ineligible player, who recently transferred from St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington to Malverne and followed all of the requirements to play, was the reason for the forfeit, Lockwood said. Paperwork required to be sent to Section VIII, the governing body for interscholastic sports in Nassau County, wasn’t received until after the game kicked off.

“We appealed the forfeit and unfortunately lost the appeal,” Lockwood said. 

“It was a big, big win,” he added. “To have it taken away is upsetting. The kids were upset, but they came back and had a good week of practice to get ready for West Hempstead. Sideline-to-sideline, we’re proud of what we did against Seaford.”

Said Section VIII coordinator Nina Van Erk: “The player wasn’t cleared by Section VIII prior to the game because we were still waiting on paperwork to get to our office.” 

Van Erk said Malverne self-reported the incident. She was notified by Malverne Athletic Director Patricia Desormeau the player in question was removed from the field, and the paperwork was sent that same day.

Mules junior Maurice Teachey gave the Vikings headaches with three rushing touchdowns and two passing scores. Elijah Lewis was all over the place on defense and made 18 tackles. Andrew Morgan and Mikal Montgomery had receiving scores, and Amarie Reyes made the key stop on Seaford’s potentially game-tying two-point conversion try with 45 seconds remaining. None of the stats from the game count.

The flipped result dramatically impacted the Conference IV standings but ultimately didn’t cost the Mules a playoff berth. Malverne still had a chance at one of the eight postseason spots heading into last Saturday’s regular-season finale at West Hempstead, and despite a 42-14 loss managed to earn the No. 8 seed and a trip to No. 1 Locust Valley.