Just when we thought the forfeits were over — especially with just two days left in the regular season — the CIF Southern Section office has more infractions to deal with.
Norco High, which is scheduled to play at Vista Murrieta on Thursday night in its season finale, will have to forfeit its six wins this season due to CIF violations.
In a video obtained by High School On SI, Norco principal Dr. Catherine Wallace tells football families in a meeting on Wednesday the school district in conjunction with the CIF office conducted an investigation on a “couple of allegations brought forward regarding our football program.”
“It’s been determined because of these allegations and the results of the investigation that our football program is going to have to forfeit six of its football games — six of the wins,” she said.
The Cougars were 6-3 and will now drop to 0-9.
It’s not clear yet what the violations are, but it’s likely to be infractions that’ve been trending this season: falsifying documentation (Bylaw 202) or undue influence (Bylaw 510). However, these violations are emerging retroactively as of late. A student-athlete will be cleared by its school and approved by the CIF office for a valid change of residence before more information provided later proves the student-athlete did not complete a valid change in accordance with the bylaw.
An email to the Norco High staff and faculty went out regarding the forfeits:
Email to Norco High School faculty and staff regarding football CIF violations and forfeits. / Norco High
There are rumblings that information brought forward came at a very coincidental time. It’s not unprecedented for anonymous sources with agendas to bring information to the CIF office with intentions of derailing a team’s season.
Nevertheless, the saga of transfer drama continues even through the final week of the regular season. Arguably the biggest story this 2025-26 prep season has been CIF’s cracking down on transfer paperwork, which has resulted in dozens and dozens of student-athletes deemed ineligible, programs forfeiting games, and even one program — Bishop Montgomery — canceling its entire 2025 varsity season.
Just last week, Orange Lutheran had to forfeit its first two games of the season for the participation of an ineligible player. The Lancers went from 4-4 to 2-6. Long Beach Millikan, Long Beach Poly and Bellflower are other programs that’ve been impacted by retroactive ineligibility.
Tarek Fattal will host a bracket reveal show Sunday morning at 9:40 a.m. on the FATTAL FACTOR for the CIF Southern Section football playoffs. Information will be unveiled right at 10 a.m.
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