The participation in a preseason basketball event in Georgia will, apparently, force the previously undefeated Marlboro County Bulldogs men’s team to forfeit three games.

In a press release Thursday morning, the athletic department at Marlboro County High announced that the South Carolina High School League was forcing the Bulldogs to forfeit upcoming region home games with West Florence and Socastee. Also, the Bulldogs will be forced to count the game played in the Georgia event as a loss.

The following statement was released by Athletic Director Dean Boyd and MCHS Principal Rocky Peterkin Thursday morning: At the beginning of the 2001-02 year, the Marlboro County High School varsity basketball team participated in two holiday tournaments in South Carolina. In addition, the team participated in a third event in Georgia. Some confusion subsequently surfaced following the event as to whether it was an official tournament or merely a scrimmage. If it was a sanctioned event, which officially resulted in participation in a third tournament, the net result was a violation of South Carolina League rules.

Specifically, according to League policy, a team can participate in only two such tournaments. An allegation of the possible League rule violation noted above was forwarded to League officials for investigation. Mr. Ronnie Matthews, Executive Director of the South Carolina League, immediately contacted Dr. Dean Boyd, School District of Marlboro County Director of Athletics, regarding the allegation. Dr. Boyd, in turn, launched an internal investigation in collaboration with Head Varsity Basketball Coach Ken Spencer and Mr. Rocky Peterkin, Marlboro County High School Principal.

While there still exists some disparities in perceptions surrounding the team's participation in the third event, district officials have been officially notified by the South Carolina League that the team did, in fact, violate the third tournament rule.

In his letter to Mr. Peterkin on January 30, Matthews stated, in part, “This is an obvious violation of League policy, which allows only two tournaments. Three other South Carolina schools participated in the tournament this year and and counted the event as a tournament”.

His letter also goes on to state that “In a scrimmage, no score is kept, teams may or may not be in uniform, coaches can call any number of timeouts for instruction, and no winner or loser is declared. I also have the tournament sanction form from the Georgia Association indicating it was a tournament".

Alter completing his review of the evidence, Mr. Matthews has imposed the following sanctions on the varsity basketball team. It will forfeit two home games, which will be February 6, 2002, against West Florence High School and February 8, 2002 against Socastee High School. The game won in the tournament must also be forfeited and Marlboro County High School will also be fined $300.00 for the violation.

After receiving and reviewing the preponderance of information regarding this situation, the M.C.H.S. Athletics Department and the M.C.H.S. Administration believe the decision by the South Carolina League is equitable.

In addition, we have initiated a thorough review of the procedures used to communicate and interpret League policies within the athletics department to ensure this situation does not happen again.

We are extremely disappointed that our student-athletes will be negatively impacted by this decision - particularly since we are currently the #1 ranked 4-A Varsity Basketball team in South Carolina. However, we are more than confident that the team will rebound from the set-back and perform quite well during the remainder of the 2001-02 season.