The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association has notified Signal Mountain High School that its football program is guilty of playing an ineligible player and must vacate all six wins this season.
According to Executive Director Bernard Childress, two TSSAA assistant directors spent several hours at the school conducting interviews Thursday. The TSSAA staff met early Friday morning and Childress faxed the official letter of notice Friday afternoon.
The ineligible player is 6-foot-2, 240-pound running back and linebacker Tim McClendon, who transferred form Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe during the summer and started for Signal Mountain in all seven games this season.
He will not be allowed to play in any more football games for the Eagles.
“Whoever at Signal Mountain filled out the online transfer form made a mistake,” Childress said. “All of our eligibility forms are submitted by the administration of our schools. In this case whoever filled it out clicked ‘yes’ that the student-athlete’s new residence is inside Signal Mountain’s zone. It’s not. Once we checked to see exactly where his house is, we realized he’s in Brainerd’s zone, not Signal Mountain’s, and declared him ineligible immediately.