Syracuse, N.Y. -- Section III has decided that the 41-6 victory the Jordan-Elbridge football team earned over Hannibal on Thursday can stand as a win.
The Eagles had originally declared that game a forfeit because they believed they discovered that their quarterback, freshman Jakob Frost, was an illegal transfer. That decision was based on a tip to the district that Frost was not a legal resident of the district, thereby making him ineligible to attend the school.
Superintendent James Froio said the district did not know that until Friday, and when the information was confirmed, J-E declared the forfeit. The district submitted that information to Section III.
On Wednesday, Froio said the district got a letter from Section III executive director John Rathbun explaining that Frost’s summertime transfer from the Bishop Grimes district did not violate New York State Public High School Athletic Association rules and that Frost is eligible for extra-curricular activities. Rathbun said that decision was based upon further information provided by Jordan-Elbridge but declined to get into details.
Frost, however, remains ineligible to attend Jordan-Elbridge until he meets the residency requirements.
“We didn’t violate the transfer rule. We didn’t knowingly take a player from another school that was already on a varsity team and bring him over to Jordan-Elbridge and start playing him,” Froio said. “We enrolled him in July. He started practicing with us in July. We didn’t know any different about the residency issue. We didn’t even know anything about that until it was brought to our attention the Friday after the game. Section III is the authority on whether a student’s eligible or not. They don’t make judgments on residency issues. They make calls based on preventing kids from hopping from school to school during a season in a varsity program.”
Jakob’s father, Brian, said that school officials were aware before Thursday that his son was not a resident but declined to comment further.
Because Frost’s transfer was cleared by the section and the district believed he was a student in good standing on Thursday night, the win was reinstated. Froio said the information that subsequently came to light that Frost was not an eligible student would not be applied retroactively to negate the result.
“We would only forfeit a game if he was deemed an ineligible player by Section III,” Froio said.
Jakob has appeared in all three games for the 1-2 Eagles, who play an independent schedule. Frost has completed 38 of 60 passes for 643 yards and seven touchdowns.
Froio said he doesn’t know how the will play out but he said Frost is welcome to rejoin the district and the team if he meets the residency requirements.
“I hope that they can get back into the district. He’s a nice boy,” Froio said.
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