And the streak remains alive.

The Illinois High School Association's Board of Directors on Thursday sustained Executive Director Marty Hickman's ruling that Decatur Eisenhower must forfeit three games for using an ineligible player.

That means Eisenhower's 14-12 victory over BHS on Sept. 26 is now a forfeit for the Purple Raiders. Not only does that give BHS an 8-0 overall record -- and first place alone in the Big 12 Conference at 7-0 -- but the Raiders' regular-season winning streak is 42 straight going into tonight's regular-season finale at Urbana.

More important are the implications for the state playoffs, which begin next week. Should BHS beat Urbana tonight it would finish the regular season undefeated and could earn a top seed in the playoffs -- instead of a third or fourth seed it likely would have received.

"It worked to our advantage. We find ourselves earning what we hope will be a better seed, and obviously we have a chance to win conference outright," said BHS coach Rigo Schmelzer. "In both regards, we're back in control of our destiny.

"It's something that's out of our control and occurred. We benefited from it. The reality is we played them and at the time lost. To get a win for something you didn't do, for me it's hollow."

Eisenhower also must forfeit victories against Normal West on Sept. 5 and Champaign Central. That improved both teams to 3-5 overall and 3-4 in the league. Eisenhower dropped from 4-4 and 3-4 to 1-7 and 1-6, respectively.

Jamie Taylor transferred to Eisenhower from Maroa-Forsyth on Aug. 14. He was academically ineligible for the first semester of this season but still played in five games.

Eisenhower also failed to send Taylor's transfer form to Maroa-Forsyth before the start of the season, which is required by the IHSA.

That prompted an investigation. Under IHSA bylaws, a student cannot join a team until the transfer forms have been received by both schools.

According to Eisenhower officials, the form wasn't sent on time because of an administrative error. However, Eisenhower learned during the investigation that Taylor also was academically ineligible. The school reported the infractions to the IHSA last week.

Hickman issued the initial ruling against Eisenhower on Tuesday, and the 10-member board of directors denied an appeal by Eisenhower administrators during a teleconference call on Thursday.

The ruling ends any hope Eisenhower had of making the postseason for the first time since 1995.