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Prairie Seeds player's age being investigated

By DAVID LA VAQUE, Star Tribune, 11/02/11, 6:48AM CDT

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Carlos Boquin, a standout sophomore forward on the Prairie Seeds Academy boys' soccer team, could miss Thursday's Class 1A tournament championship pending an investigation of his age by the Minnesota State High School League.

Carlos Boquin, a standout sophomore forward on the Prairie Seeds Academy boys' soccer team, could miss Thursday's Class 1A tournament championship pending an investigation of his age by the Minnesota State High School League.

Choua Lee Yang, principal of the Brooklyn Park charter school, said the MSHSL requested Boquin's original birth certificate. She said it arrived Monday from El Salvador. She expected the school to submit the certificate Tuesday after it was translated from Spanish to English.

"Everything is going to plan," Yang said. "We talked to our attorney and we will get [the MSHSL] what they need. I just hope they don't find something else they need and we run out of time."

Boquin, a fast and skilled playmaker, missed the first two games of the state tournament. Yang said the MSHSL investigated Boquin's age last season around the time of the state tournament and worried the program was "being singled out." Lycans coach Youssef Darbaki handled the inquiry last year, sending a copy of Boquin's birth certificate. But further allegations required him to obtain the original birth certificate.

Darbaki said he is confident Boquin will be eligible to play Thursday.

So how old is Boquin?

"He was born in 1994," Yang said. "I don't know what month, but he's 17."

Being 17 would make Boquin older than a typical sophomore. But he would be eligible to play under MSHSL bylaw 101 which states: "A student who turns 20 during the 11th or 12th semester since first entering the 7th grade shall be allowed to participate through the completion of the 12th semester."