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Greenville High School was forced to forfeit a win over Greer.
Greenville High School in upstate South Carolina has been forced to forfeit a football win over Greer. A 61-28 victory has been replaced with a loss. It could have major playoff repercussions.
The Red Raiders had been tied atop their respective region standings before entering the final game of the regular season. They’ve effectively fallen to third as a result of the penalty.
The forfeiture is linked to an illegal roster. Greenville reportedly played the game with an ineligible player. An appeal is in the works. If the decision is not overturned, the Red Raiders’ state title hopes take a hit.
Greenville High School annihilated Greer.
The Red Raiders hosted region rival Greer in early October. Both programs compete in Region 2 at the 4A level.
The game was not competitive. Greenville quarterback Kiishawn Farrow threw seven touchdowns. The Red Raiders won by 33 points. It was a blowout.
The game was the region opener for both squads. With the win, Greenville grabbed an early leg up in the standings. Fast forward to the final week of the season, and the Red Raiders have yet to lose a region game on the field.
Greenville was 4-0 and in a first-place tie with Gaffney. Those two teams were expected to face off in the season finale with a region championship on the line. The winner would secure a No. 1 seed in the 4A upper state playoffs. Circumstances have since changed.
It was determined that Greenville used an ineligible player in the win over Greer. They will forfeit the game, moving their region record to 3-1. Greer, too, is 3-1 with the result reversal. They hold the tiebreaker due to the updated head-to-head outcome.
Greenville is now third in the pecking order. Based on tiebreaker rules, they might not have the opportunity to win the region.
How does South Carolina high school football decide playoff tiebreakers?
There is a scenario in which three teams finish with identical 4-1 region marks. That would involve Greenville beating Gaffney in their finale and Greer winning its final game against Riverside.
In that scenario, all three teams would’ve beaten one another. Without a head-to-head result to go on, next steps must be taken. Below are the SCHSL tiebreaker rules.
- Head to head
- Region points system
- RPI
As we determined, head-to-head would be off the table in this proposed case. Seeding would then move to a predetermined region points system. That takes into account which teams beat which teams in league play.
All three teams would’ve beaten Riverside, Travelers Rest, and Wade Hampton for a combined six points. All three would also earn another six points for beating a team tied at No. 1 in the standings. The totals would all come out to 12 points.
So, it would then go to RPI. That not only takes into account region play, but the full regular season slate. Greenville currently has the lowest RPI of all three teams after having its win over Greer removed.
RPI at the time of this writing:
Gaffney: .67799
Greer: .54635
Greenville: .51329
So, should all three teams finish tied for the top spot, the Red Raiders could receive the No. 3 seed in the region. That would not only strip them of the region championship despite on-field wins over both Greer and Gaffney, but it would also result in the loss of at least one home game in the postseason.
Now, this is all a moot point if Greenville loses to Gaffney in the finale, or if Greer falls to Riverside. Still, the forfeit has the potential to create chaos.