This past Wednesday the Pirate Football team took a hard loss to the Reagan Raiders. After the game was moved up from Friday night due to concerns about Hurricane Florence, the Pirates routine was thrown off as the Raiders caught them by surprise and escaped with a win. The final score was 14-7, with Reagan striking first with a touchdown in both the first and third quarters. Page’s only score was during the second, a touchdown which tied the game.
Although this is the first on-the-field loss for the Pirates, it might soon be joined by three more. This is because of the discovery of two academically ineligible players(whose identities are kept anonymous due to privacy laws) on the squad who dressed for the first three games, which would immediately disqualify the Pirates according to NCHSAA rules. The official ruling is expected to arrive this week from the North Carolina High School Athletic Association, and will likely go unchallenged because a GCS official reported the violation.
When the official ruling comes through the Pirates record is expected to drop to 1-4, keeping the 37-22 victory over Eastern Guilford on September 7th because the players did not dress out on that occasion.
Despite this setback, it’s not all bad news for the Pirates. This is because playoff seeding only focuses on conference games, of which Page has played none yet. In addition, the latter half of the season looks to be a success still due to the strong team the Pirates have. The only picayune affect the ruling will have is disrupting playoff seeding due to the three additional technical losses.