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A high school football program in the state of Mississippi has been forced to forfeit games from its 2025 season. As a result, a lengthy losing streak grew.
Salem High School was set to make the playoffs after going 6-3 in the regular season. That is no longer the case.
The Mississippi Clarion Ledger says a fifth-year player competed throughout the year. The Wildcats will forfeit their victories.
MHSAA reported the Wildcats had a fifth-year player. MHSAA allows four years of eligibility once a student enters ninth grade…
Salem was off to its best start since 2014, when the Wildcats finished 7-4. Salem was coming off a winless 2024 season when they finished 0-10.
Salem ended a long high school football losing steak.
The Wildcats had lost 49 straight games dating back to the 2020 season. They went 0-10 in 2024, 2023, and 2021. They were 0-11 in 2022.
The skid ended with a Game 1 win over McLaurin. A winning streak was started the following week.
After posting a 6-3 mark, Salem made the Mississippi 1A playoff field. The Wildcats were slated to face Lumberton at home. They’ve been forced to cancel that postseason matchup, officially ending the season.
The school released a joint statement on the situation after the news broke. It was an unintentional oversight by the coaching staff.
“We received notice from the MHSAA this morning that we were in violation of one of the rules concerning eligibility of one of our players. Though we had no intention of breaking the rule, we simply misinterpreted the stated rules. Players are allowed eligibility for four years once they enter 9th grade.
“The player in question met all other eligibility requirements, age and grades. He did not play for five years. Our mistake was in allowing the player his fourth year of eligibility, even though his seasons did not run consecutively. The rule states that a player has four consecutive years of eligibility.”
Now, the streak grows to 58 games.
Salem’s official record will go down as 0-9. A 49-game losing skid now sits at 58 despite the Wildcats’ on-field wins.
That streak only adds insult to injury after having a successful season scrubbed from the books.
Meanwhile, Salem’s anticipated high school football playoff opponent gets a free ride to the second round. Lumberton will await the winner of West Bolivar and Nanih Waiya.