Rocky Boy Stars must forfeit nine wins

Voyd St. Pierre, the superintendent of Rocky Boy schools, has confirmed to the Havre Daily News that the Rocky Boy high school boys basketball team will have to forfeit all nine wins it has earned in the 2014-15 season due to the participation of an ineligible player.

St. Pierre made the following statement in a press release sent to the Havre Daily News on Friday:

"During an internal review of students participating in our boy's basketball program, Rocky Boy High School's athletic department discovered an eligibility violation of Article ll, Section 8 [Semester Rule] of the Montana High School Association By-Laws. Rocky Boy High School immediately self-reported its unintentional violation and is in a position to accept the penalties outlined in Article Vlll, Section (1) [Participation of an Ineligible Student] within the MHSA By-Laws. The appropriate and necessary contacts have been made to all schools affected by this eligibility violation and steps implemented to correct our win-loss record. As a long-standing member of the MHSA, Rocky Boy High School works diligently to ensure that all of its extracurricular programs are implemented, governed, and strictly follow the established By-laws of the MHSA."

Coming into the weekend, the Northern Stars were 9-5 overall and 5-2 in District 1B play. But with the forfeiture of all previous wins, Rocky Boy’s record is now 0-14 overall and 0-7 in the 1B. However, the penalty which is falls under the guidelines of Article VIII Section (1) does not disqualify the Stars from playing out the remainder of their schedule or participating in postseason play.

Rocky Boy will be back on the court tonight and will play host to the Malta Mustangs in a non-district battle of Northern B rivals.