Port Neches-Groves’ last-second football comeback win at Crosby on Oct. 12 will now go down as a loss.

The District 12-5A Division II executive committee, or DEC, voted by a 3-2 count Monday morning in Baytown for PNG to forfeit the 48-45 victory that was decided on a touchdown catch with 3 seconds remaining. The DEC, which met at the Goose Creek Consolidated ISD office, voted unanimously that PNG broke a competition rule that bans recording devices from “sidelines, press box or other locations within the playing enclosure for coaching purposes during the game.”

The policy is Rule 1, Section 4, Article 11 in the NCAA football rule book, which the University Interscholastic League adopts for play. PNG head coach and athletic director Brandon Faircloth identified the device in question as an iPad, adding it was inadvertently placed there and not intended for any video recording.

“Honestly, I don’t know how they could prove any intent of us trying to record from the coaches’ box,” Faircloth said. “That wasn’t our intent. This shouldn’t even be an issue.”

Barbers Hill head coach Tom Westerberg said he turned in photos of the iPad that his scouts took during the PNG-Crosby game last Monday to Bernie Mulvaney, the Goose Creek Consolidated ISD athletic director and the 12-5A-II DEC chair. Westerberg said the photos were only of the iPad being in the coaches’ press box and not of PNG recording the game. He denied any motivation to turn in evidence against PNG to affect district standings heading into Friday’s game between his and Faircloth’s teams in Mont Belvieu.

“It wasn’t any motivation,” Westerberg said. “What’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong. There’s no other motivation.”

With the forfeit, PNG’s official records are now 5-3 overall and 4-1 in 12-5A-II play, making the Indians tied with Barbers Hill (6-2, 4-1) for second place behind Nederland (8-0, 5-0). Barbers Hill’s only district loss is to Nederland, 27-21 on Oct. 5.

Crosby’s records become 6-2 and 3-2 with the win by forfeit. The Cougars had lost three in a row before the forfeit.

“I would have not turned it in if it were to shape the district race,” Westerberg said. “As it stood, we were in the playoffs.”

The top four teams from each UIL district at the end of the regular season qualify for the state playoffs. Crosby is now tied for fourth with the forfeit win.

Asked about the timing of the district decision, Westerberg said: “There’s no timing of it. I turned it in last Monday before we played Crosby (a 49-30 Barbers Hill win). The district put [the meeting] off until [Monday].”

Mulvaney opted to schedule the meeting for this Monday to avoid any conflicts with preparations for this past Thursday’s and Friday’s games.

“There were two different motions that were made,” Mulvaney said. “The first motion was to vote whether PNG broke the rules by having the iPad in the coaches’ box. It was voted on unanimously that PNG broke the rules.”

The second motion was to determine whether PNG should face what, and if any, discipline from the violation, Mulvaney continued. Representatives from Vidor, Santa Fe and Dayton each voted PNG should forfeit the Crosby game, while representatives from Nederland and Baytown Lee voted no penalty against PNG.

District executive committee members include a representative from each participating high school. Barbers Hill did not vote because it made the allegation to the committee, and PNG and Crosby were excluded from the vote because the decision would impact the outcome of their game.

“Some representatives thought that PNG should forfeit more games because they had the iPad at their games, but there was no evidence turned in from other games,” Mulvaney said. “Some of those voted no on penalties because they felt PNG would be penalized for games where it’s not proven PNG violated the rule.”

In the Oct. 12 game, Roschon Johnson completed a 13-yard pass to Peyton Proenza in the back of the end zone with 3 seconds left, giving the Indians the winning touchdown in what was mostly a back-and-forth affair. Johnson ran for the extra two points to shape the final score.

That now-forfeited victory gives Nederland an opportunity to win the district championship outright by defeating Crosby at home on Friday and beating PNG in the Nov. 9 Bum Phillips Bowl game in Port Neches. Should Nederland beat Crosby, PNG can still win a share of the district crown by beating Barbers Hill and Nederland, but will also earn the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs. PNG has won a share of a district title each of the last three years, all in the former football District 22-5A.

“We’ve still got to prove it on the field,” Faircloth said. “We still have a chance.”

Faircloth said he would address the forfeiture to the players during their athletic period Monday.

“It’s a sad day,” Faircloth said. “I’ve been a head coach for 10 years, and I’ve never gone through anything like this.”

PNG may choose to appeal the DEC decision to the UIL state executive committee, which will hold its next meeting Nov. 5, according to Mulvaney. He notified the UIL about the 12-5A-II decision.

“We didn’t expect it to get to this point,” Port Neches-Groves ISD Superintendent Mike Gonzales said Monday, adding he was tending to a family emergency when he learned of the DEC decision and was waiting to gather more information.

Faircloth said any decision to appeal would be determined within the next few days. He added he would not take any adverse action against the coaches who left the iPad out.

The DEC’s decision comes two years after Nederland was forced to forfeit a 51-9 win over Livingston as the result of using an ineligible player. The UIL denied Nederland a parent residence waiver request for the quarterback who played in that game.

Nederland missed the playoffs that season after winning at least a share of the 22-5A title each of the previous five years.
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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews

District 12-5A Division II standings

Dist. Over.
Nederland 5-0 8-0
Barbers Hill 4-1 6-2
PN-Groves 4-1 5-3
Santa Fe 3-2 4-4
Crosby 3-2 6-2
Baytown Lee 1-4 3-5
Vidor 0-5 3-5
Dayton 0-5 0-8