Fort Hill, the three-time reigning Maryland Class 1A state football champions, has forfeited five victories due to an ineligible player.

According to a report by the Cumberland Times-News, Fort Hill received an anonymous report early last week that a player on its varsity football team was not a resident of Allegany County (Md.) which is a violation of Allegany County Public Schools and Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) rules. 

The Allegany County school system determined that the student in question was residing in another state, and enrollment information provided to Fort Hill’s administration contained fraudulent information. 

“The investigation didn’t reveal any wrongdoing or lack of diligence by the Fort Hill administration or football coaching staff,” a press release from Allegany County Public Schools said.

The press release stated the school system contacted the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to report the violation as required by the Code of Maryland Regulations 13A.06.03.05. which requires a school to forfeit all games in which an ineligible player participated.

The Times-News said the player in question did not participate in the Sentinels’ first game of the regular season. 

According to the release, the Allegany County school system was to appeal the penalty to the MPSSAA Appeals Committee Monday. 

The final MPSSAA football point standings along with the postseason brackets were released Monday morning, showing Fort Hill a 2-7 record in the final 1A West Region standings. The Sentinels were 7-2 after defeating league rival Allegany Saturday.

The Cumberland Times-News reported Monday afternoon that there wasn’t enough time for the appeal to be heard before the state playoff brackets were finalized. 

Since 2021, every Maryland public school football team is eligible for the state tournament.

Fort Hill, which was the No. 1 seed in the West Region entering last week, is now the No. 6 seed and will play Allegany Friday evening at Greenway Avenue Stadium, a venue the two Cumberland (Md.) schools play home games.

The winner will play at No. 2 seed Clear Spring next weekend for a spot in the state quarterfinals. 

Barring major upsets in the other 1A region playoffs, Fort Hill, ranked No. 17 in the latest Maryland Top 25 Maryland High School Football State Rankings, will be on the road through the state semifinals, something it hasn’t had to do during its championship run. 

Fort Hill, seeking to match its 1A four-peat run of 2013 to 2016, last played a state postseason road contest in 2010. The Sentinels lost to Dunbar in a 1A state semifinal contest at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute.

Fort Hill may be ready for a new path to the state final at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Sentinels played Dunbar, the three-time defending 2A/1A champ in Baltimore (Morgan State University) during the regular season and, last season, played at Briar Woods, a Northern Virginia power.

People who have been receiving so-called “Voting Report Cards” in the mail are not happy about them, and now Maryland’s attorney general is warning the letters may violate state law. The “report cards,” millions of which were sent out according to CBS News, tell the addressee that public records show they are eligible to vote. “Remember, who you vote for is private, but whether or not you voted is public record,” the letters say. “We’re sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation.” What follows is a record of whether the addressee voted in recent elections, as well as redacted information about whether their neighbors voted, the Baltimore Sun reports. Residents of other states have received the letters as well.

The letters have been called “creepy,” “threatening,” and “intimidating,” the Washington Post reports. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown recently sent cease-and-desist letters to the two nonprofit groups sending out the letters, the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, which are connected to one another (and are run by a longtime Democratic operative, though the groups claim to be nonpartisan). Brown warns in the letters that Maryland law prohibits “inappropriate attempts to compel voting behavior.” A senior official for the groups pushed back in a statement to the Post, saying, “It is not ‘intimidating’ or ‘threatening’ to promote voting by discussing neighborhood participation rates and stating that the records will be reviewed after the election to determine whether the recipient joined their neighbors in voting.” The groups insist such movements have previously driven voter turnout.

Meanwhile, in Texas, residents have reported receiving intimidating messages of a different sort, the Austin American-Statesman and Fortune report. “Greetings! YOU have been identified and are now in our National Database of miscreant Harris supporters, either by social interactions with your neighbors who are on our investigations team, or by yard signs, or vehicle bumper stickers,” read flyers that have been left on Kamala Harris yard signs. “Rather than the hangman’s noose of the old days, you are now guaranteed that once the magnificent Donald Trump assumes the Presidency again YOU will be IRS tax audited going all the way back to your very first tax return—and at a minimum—4 years of painful misery and attorney’s fees.” They are signed as being from the “Grand Dragon of Trump Klan #124,” but it is not clear if they are related to the KKK. Authorities are investigating. (More Election 2024 stories.)