One play turns 66-6 win into a loss

from USAToday's Prep Rally page:

You're a high school football coach, and you're coasting to an easy victory over a non-conference opponent from out of state. It's 66-6 late in the game, you've already cleared your bench, and with just seconds remaining you insert a young man who had just transferred into your district for the game's final meaningless play.

Days later, you discover that your school had not received that player's official transcript and hadn't checked his academic status, and that he was ineligible to play in that game.

Do you report the violation, knowing it will mean a forfeit? Or do you let it slide, knowing full well that the infraction had zero impact on the outcome of the game?

Canton (Ohio) McKinley coach Brian Cross did the honorable thing, reporting the situation to school officials, who notified the Ohio High School Athletic Association, who ordered McKinley to forfeit the game to Detroit Pershing. And the Canton school district had no choice but to suspend Cross for one game.

A Canton schools official told the Canton Repository, "It's a positive Coach Cross brought it to our attention," but basically, rules are rules and coaches are role models. So the 66-6 win goes into the books as a defeat for McKinley, now 0-2 and playing its third game (versus unbeaten Lake High School on Friday) without its head coach.

What do you think? Too harsh? Or are academic eligibility rules to be followed to the letter of the law?