Tavares High School forced to forfeit games because player over age

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A birthday may have just cost one Lake County High School a shot at a football championship.

District officials said one of the players at Tavares High School just turned 20.

That's over the age limit set by the high school athletic association, and now, parents said they want the athletic director fired.

The Tavares High School football team was playoff-bound for just the third time in nearly 30 years when it was discovered that one of the players on the squad went over the age limit of 19 years, 9 months old to be eligible to play.

District officials said Tavares High athletic director Bonnie Watkins caught the oversight, and the team was forced to forfeit some games, knocking the Bulldogs out of the post-season.

The mistake has enraged some football parents who want Watkins fired for not spotting it before the season started.

Parent Robert Wolfe, also the mayor of Tavares, said he does not blame the player in question or the coaches.

"The coaches -- they coach. The athletic director handles the administrative part of this. And that's why the people are looking at it, including myself, that I think she should be held accountable for this large mistake she made," Wolfe said.

WFTV