Joey Montoya spent Saturday afternoon relaying the bad news.
The Placer High School football coach called his players and informed them their season was indeed over. A California Interscholastic Federation panel rejected the Hillmen's appeal of a Sac-Joaquin Section ruling to forfeit three victories because of a paperwork snafu regarding a transfer student.
The transfer student is a foster child who had spent many years of his youth in Auburn, lived in Vallejo for a year and returned to Auburn before the season to live with a relative.
Had Placer won the ruling, forfeit losses to Mesa Verde and El Dorado in Pioneer Valley League play and to Rosemont in nonleague play would have been reversed. The Hillmen would have had a 4-2 league record, good for the PVL's third playoff seed.
Instead, Colfax (6-4, 3-3), which lost to Placer, received that spot.
"I'm all about following rules and being accountable," said Montoya, who led his team to a 6-4 record on the field. "But I am also all about justice and accepting a punishment that fits the crime, and this doesn't feel right. It's been very heart-wrenching."
Christian Brothers 35, Vista del Lago 15 at CBS – Marcus McDaniel scored on runs of 27 and two yards, and Josh Tucker had a 93-yard kickoff return for a score and a three-yard touchdown run as the Falcons secured the Sierra Valley Conference's No. 2 playoff spot.
Oak Ridge is the No. 1 seed. Had CBS lost, Ponderosa, the defending SVC champion, would have reached the postseason. CBS will host Burbank in a rematch of last year's playoff opener, won by the Titans.
Davis, Woodcreek race to titles
Davis and Woodcreek swept the Divisions I and II team titles, respectively, in the section cross country championships at Willow Hill Reservoir in Folsom.
The Davis boys won their fourth consecutive D-I title, and the Blue Devils' girls took their sixth in a row. The Woodcreek boys repeated in D-II.
Call The Bee's Joe Davidson, (916) 321-1280. The Bee Sports staff contributed to this report.
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