Forbes Road forfeits 2 girls games to McConnellsburg
The announcement sent mid-Tuesday afternoon by Forbes Road athletic director Brown Cutchall was short and to the point:
"The varsity girls basketball game scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12 with McConnellsburg has been canceled and will not be made up. Also, the varsity girls basketball game at McConnellsburg scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 9, will be canceled and no makeup game will be scheduled."
Both Sideling Hill League and Inter-County Conference games will be recorded as forfeit wins for McConnellsburg.
On Monday night at a Forbes Road school board meeting, the board voted to cancel the games.
School board president Kirby Shoemaker said in an email Tuesday night, "Recently it came to the attention of the board that there was a police investigation into an incident at an earlier event between a McConnellsburg player (formerly a Forbes player) and her family members, and a current Forbes player and her family members.
"As a result of this information, we as a board felt that for the safety of everyone, it would be better to forfeit than to put everyone in a position of possible conflict that could result in injury or police involvement again."
The incident Shoemaker referred to happened in the fall season.
The board opened the position of girls basketball coach, and the previous coach, Jeff Gelvin, decided not to re-apply. That in turn led to a series of events and the aftermath was that Gelvin's daughter, McKenzie Gelvin, a member of the Cardinals' girls basketball team, ended up transferring to McConnellsburg.
She is currently playing for the Spartans' girls basketball team.
As of Tuesday, McConnellsburg had a 5-3 record, and Forbes Road was 1-9.