Junior quarterback John Gazzaniga played for Orange Lutheran in August.
Playing for Santa Margarita last week, Gazzaniga completed 20 of 30 passes for 377 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Bishop Amat.
Nothing wrong with that. People work for one company on a Monday and a few days later are working someplace else because they sought a superior opportunity.
Seeking a superior opportunity is what Gazzaniga did.
He enrolled at Santa Margarita on Aug. 29. Transfer paperwork was filed with the CIF Southern Section on Sept. 5, the CIF Southern Section granted athletic eligibility to Gazzaniga at Santa Margarita on Sept. 7 and that night he made his Santa Margarita debut.
The Gazzaniga family had to change residences for John to become eligible at Santa Margarita. That move, even for a private school student, has to be made from one public school attendance area to another.
Santa Margarita president Andy Sulick said school athletic director Donald Evans thoroughly checked the new residence to verify that the move was legitimate.
“You have to make sure someone is living there,” Sulick said. “You have to make sure it’s not just a staged house.”
And make sure of everything else, too.
It’s 2023, the Trinity League is the king of high school sports leagues in the United States, football is the king of high school sports and quarterback is the most visible position in high school sports.
If a Trinity League starting quarterback in 2023 makes a bogus transfer it’s not going to stay secret for long. Those schools do keep a wary eye on each other. Trinity League people might act all buddy-buddy, but there are Servite folks who are not jazzed that their former principal, Michael Brennan, is now the president at Mater Dei.
The CIF State organization, of which the CIF Southern Section is one of 10 members, has a 19-page guideline for school administrators that covers transfer guidelines. Included is a checklist of 21 items that must be addressed…
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