SBC voluntarily forfeits 2 games, drops to fourth

San Beda has voluntarily forfeited two of its elimination round games after finding out that it had fielded in an ineligible player in midfielder Dane Penaflor as the team tumbled from No. 1 to No. 4 going into today’s Final Four of the NCAA seniors football tournament at the Rizal Memorial Complex pitch.

“During the eligibility meeting, San Beda and Lyceum of the Phl U requested that they submit their eligibility requirements in January but we told them they run the risk of forfeiting their games if there are players who will be found to be ineligible later on,” said AU’s Peter Cayco, who chairs the committee organizing football, yesterday.

“Then San Beda wrote us that they have discovered one of their players failed to make the eligibility requirements so they are voluntarily forfeiting the games where the player saw action,” he added.

Dropping to No. 4, the Red Booters will now take on the St. Benilde Blazers, who clinched the top seeding and the twice-to-beat edge at 8 tonight.

No. 2 Arellano U clashes with No. 3 LPU in the other Final Four pairing at 6 p.m.

The matches where Penaflor played on were against AU, Emilio Aguinaldo and Mapua.

But since San Beda lost to AU anyway, only six match points – three points for every win – were deducted from the former.

San Beda actually fell to a three-way tie for fourth with Emilio Aguinaldo College and Mapua but booked the last seat to the playoff stage with the highest goal differential of 1 as against EAC’s -9 and Mapua’s -13, respectively.

The Juniors’ Final Four also unfolds today with No. 1 CSBLSGH battling No. 4 Arellano at 2 p.m. and No. 2 San Beda tangling with No. 3 Letran at 4 p.m.