OUR VIEW: JM coach showed class in making the right decision

» Coming forward with ineligible player tough on football team, fans, but it was the right thing to do.

When Culpeper County and Eastern View High Schools took on James Monroe’s football team this season the Blue Devils and Cyclones both got a good look at a team with the talent to challenge for a second consecutive state title.

Unfortunately, we’ll never know just what JM might have accomplished. The Yellow Jackets forfeited six games after coach and athletic director Rich Serbay discovered his own clerical error that led to an ineligible player suiting up for most of the team’s games. The forfeits kept JM out of the playoffs.

A lesser man might have tried to slip the mistake by the Virginia High School League, and just might have been successful in doing so.

It must have been a tough decision to make and the players and fans had to have been extremely disappointed to have the opportunity to defend the championship taken away, but Serbay did the right thing and his players learned a lesson in integrity.

Down in Madison County, nothing was going to keep the Mountaineers out of the playoffs. Madison finished the regular season with just one loss before traveling to Altavista for a regional playoff game. Altavista was able to knock off the Mountaineers and end their season, but Madison deserves congratulations for a fine season.

It’s on to basketball season for Madison, where the Mountaineers will likely be the favorites to win a Group A state title with four starters returning.

High school students weren’t the only football players in the area with playoff fever. The Culpeper Football Association recently wrapped up its youth football season, crowning champions in three divisions.

Congrats to the Bandit Deacons, Mighty Mite Hokies and Midget Wolfpack on their well-earned championships.