Palmyra football team forfeits six games after self-reporting violation of quarters played rule

PALMYRA, Mo. — A self-reported violation has led to the Palmyra football team officially forfeiting the final six games of its regular season, which included the Panthers’ lone victory against Highland in Week 8.

Palmyra athletic director Brian Wosman confirmed the school submitted information to the Missouri State High School Activities Association showing a handful of Palmyra football players participated in more than the allotted number of quarters in a given week.

After reviewing the information, MSHSAA informed the school it would have to forfeit games involving those players. Palmyra officially finishes with an 0-10 record.

According to the MSHSAA handbook, “No player may play in more than four quarters on one calendar date.”

Players also are limited to six quarters in a week. For the purposes of tracking player quarters, a football week is defined as beginning on a Thursday and ending on the following Wednesday, according to MSHSAA guidelines.

Also according to the handbook, each school shall be responsible for keeping a record of the participation of players of both teams utilizing the MSHSAA standardized “Football Player Participation Form.”

No further action against Palmyra is expected to be taken by the MSHSAA Board of Directors.

“(The player participation form) is not something that a school has to turn in unless asked for,” said Jason West, spokesman for MSHSAA. “If we were to get an anonymous report or another school saying, ‘Hey, I know this particular player played the varsity game and the JV game,’ the school would have to show their work. They’re responsible for tracking it. They do have access to a form to help them with that, but that’s not something they have to turn into us. They have to have it available.”