Recently, local high school athletes were recruited and signed with universities for their athletic abilities. Among those student athletes, a few football players from Mallard Creek High School were signed despite the controversial ending of a spectacular football season. 

During their first football season, the new team’s only win came against Phillip O. Berry. With the advantage of having all the players return for the 2008 football season, Mallard Creek turned the 2008 football season into a winning one. They were undefeated and beat their rivals North Mecklenburg and Vance in the process. But Principal Kit Rea notified the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHAA) that there was ineligible player on the varsity football team a week before the home game against West Charlotte.

CMS rules state that a player who has played more than eight semesters of CMS athletics is ineligible. The NCHAA ruled that the school would have to forfeit nine of the ten wins, making their season record 1-9. The school would also have to pay a fine of $250.

Rea later appealed the decision after finding that the alleged ineligible player had played nine semesters of high school football, but the first semester was not in the North Carolina school system. Like many new students who come to CMS from another state, the player was forced to repeat a grade because of different graduation requirements. Superintendent Peter Gorman also agreed with the decision to appeal since because when the player enrolled in CMS, Mallard Creek high school did not exist.

After the 13-27 loss to West Charlotte, the NCHAA ruled that the player was still ineligible and Mallard Creek would have still had to forfeit nine of their ten games. The school still has to pay the $250 fine and the player is no longer a student at Mallard Creek.