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STEUBENVILLE -- The Toronto football team ended the regular season on the field with a big win against rival Catholic Central.
The victory did not last long, however, as it was announced Monday that Toronto had to forfeit the game due to the use of ineligible player.
Initially with the win, the Red Knights improved to 7-3 on the season, while the Crusaders fell to 3-7.
Monday's ruling drops the Red Knights officially to 6-4, improving the Crusaders to 4-6.
"Due to a technicality, we played an ineligible player," Toronto head coach Josh Franke said. "This a player who has practiced with us since June. He has not missed a day. The end of the grading period was Friday, and he has improved his grades by a high level. We checked his grades, and he is eligible for the second nine weeks.
"Unfortunately, there is a bylaw that states if you eligible because of your grades, you have to sit out five calendar days. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so we had to forfeit the game."
The Red Knights scored early and often enroute to a 54-0 victory Saturday night on Reno Saccoccia Field inside Harding Stadium.
Toronto played well in all phases of the game against Catholic Central.
"Absolutely, the kids were running on full throttle," Franke said. "They executed. You look to have your team hitting its stride going into the playoffs, and we did that. It was exciting to see. It was one of those nights where everything was clicking. We were playing at a high level."
At the time, Saturday night's game had a big impact on the playoff standings, as the victory enabled Toronto to move up to the seventh spot in the Ohio Division VII Region 25 rankings securing a home playoff game for the Red Knights, while the loss dropped Catholic Central down to the No. 15 spot.
The forfeit did not change any of the playoff pairings.
"The state has ruled the game will now be a forfeit," Franke said. "This does not change the playoff rankings, the playoff pairings or the computer points. None of that changes. We just go into this week's playoff game against Lucas coming off a forfeit. It just reflects that we have another loss."
Toronto will play No. 10 seed Lucas at 7 p.m. Friday night at Clarke Hinkle Field, while Catholic Central will travel to play No. 2 seed Lowellville at 7 p.m. up at Paul Menichini Field.
The forfeit does not change how Toronto perceives what happened on the field inside Harding Stadium.
"Absolutely not," Franke said. "Our kids know how we played Saturday night. They know what the score was. All the spectators and all the people who saw the highlights and read the writeup in the newspapers know what happened. It does not change how we played. There is no change in how we feel or how we are preparing for Friday night."