EVERETT — A season marked by grief came to a shocking end Friday for the unbeaten Archbishop Murphy High School football team.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association upheld a Cascade Conference and District 1 board ruling that required Murphy to forfeit its district playoff victory over Bellingham for using an ineligible player. Murphy defeated the Red Raiders 28-6 last Saturday.

“It has been an unbelievable year for these kids, and for it to end this way is beyond belief,” Archbishop Murphy coach Rick Stubrud said.

Murphy was preparing to play Mark Morris today in a first-round Class 2A state playoff game. Bellingham replaces the Wildcats and the game has been rescheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Everett Memorial Stadium.

Stubrud informed his team of the decision late Friday afternoon and said his players reacted with “absolute disbelief.”

Tom Lord, president of Archbishop Murphy High School, said the violation involved an expired term for a player’s medical exam. The problem was discovered Thursday by the boys basketball coach, who was preparing for the start of practice on Monday. Lord said the physical expired Sept. 8, two weeks into the football season and four days before the death of Terry Ennis, the school’s athletic director and head football coach. The school’s athletic department also moved into a new building over the Labor Day weekend.

“It just slipped through the cracks,” Lord said.

As soon as the error was discovered, the player in question was given a physical, Lord said.

“Our position was that the timing of this, coming around the time of Terry’s illness and death, created a vacuum of leadership,” Stubrud said. “It’s just common sense that you shouldn’t penalize kids for the death of their coach. But our words fell on deaf ears. They just don’t budge on eligibility issues.

“We were asking for some compassion. We felt the kids deserved it.”

Stubrud said the school went to court late Friday afternoon seeking a reversal of the WIAA decision, but lost there as well.

“The school appealed to the league, district, district executive board and WIAA executive board for compassion, given the unusual set of circumstances,” Lord said in a press release. “We even went as far as seeking a legal injunction. At that point, unfortunately, the ruling from the court commissioner was not in favor of our appeal. Thus, this represents the end of our football season.

“We do not regret our timely self-report as we believe that integrity and honesty are of the greatest importance. However, we believe that our community, and especially our football team, has suffered greatly, and we believe compassion is the appropriate response for those who purport to hold student-athletes’ well-being as their number one priority.”

Murphy won all 10 of its games despite losing Ennis to cancer on Sept. 12. The Wildcats, who were ranked No. 3 in the final washingtonPreps.com and Associated Press polls, had dedicated their season to their fallen coach.

In addition to its playoff victory, Murphy forfeits all seven of its Cascade Conference games and its conference championship, Stubrud said.

“I’m numb, too,” he said. “It was an absolute pleasure and a great opportunity to be associated with these kids. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Stubrud said the team has decided to throw its support behind the girls soccer team and attend the girls state quarterfinal game tonight against Seattle Prep at Everett Memorial Stadium.

District 1 eligibility secretary Paul Lesh said Murphy reported the violation to the Cascade Conference on Thursday. The conference decided to follow guidelines established in the WIAA handbook and ordered Murphy to forfeit all the games in which the player participated. That ruling was upheld by the District 1 board.

“The WIAA executive board commends Archbishop Murphy High School for alerting the league of this violation,” said Al Falkner, WIAA executive board president. “This action reinforces the association’s high value placed upon ethical conduct within the WIAA membership.”

Bellingham coach Doug Trainor learned of the possibility of a forfeit late Thursday. He re-issued gear to his players at noon on Friday and organized a practice after the WIAA rendered its decision about 4 p.m.

“It’s crazy,” Trainor said. “I feel bad for Archbishop (Murphy). They pounded us pretty good. They’re a class act all the way. It’s a sad deal. There was a lot of shock. We were going, ‘No way. You’re kidding me.’ But then we refocused. We’re a little out of shape after six days off.”