BILLINGS — The Rocky Mountain College football team is forfeiting its season-opening victory against Carroll College because it used an academically ineligible player.

School officials made the announcement late Wednesday afternoon. The administration posted a one-paragraph statement on the school’s athletic website.

“The college accepts full responsibility for the violation,” part of the statement read. “We sincerely apologize to our community, our fans, our student-athletes, Carroll College and the NAIA for this error and we dedicate ourselves to improving all processes so that we may avoid any future violations."

After an internal investigation, Rocky self-reported the violation to the NAIA office in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We’re in the process of fixing things,” interim athletic director Jeff Malby said. “With everybody back in school, we got the different departments together and did an internal investigation.”

Malby said part of the process includes the violation being reviewed by the Frontier Conference eligibility committee and the NAIA national eligibility committee.

Head coach Jason Petrino informed the team of the forfeit prior to Wednesday's practice.

"Obviously, they're disappointed," he said of the players. "It's one of those life lessons."

The unidentified player involved did not participate in the Battlin’ Bears 51-7 win over Montana State-Northern last week.

"We're thankful it was one game and not multiple games," Petrino said. "We're thankful to our administration for identifying this as early as they did before we got too deep into our season."

Rocky defeated Carroll 19-0 on Aug. 23 at Herb Klindt Field. It was the Battlin’ Bears first shutout of the Saints since 1958.

The forfeit puts Rocky's record at 1-1 both overall and in the Frontier Conference standings. It is the first victory for Carroll (1-1) in 2018.

The 20th-ranked Battlin’ Bears host No. 13 Dickinson State on Saturday in the Hall of Fame Game at Herb Klindt Field.

"We have to focus on what we can control," said Petrino. "And that's our preparation for Dickinson State on Saturday."

This is not the first time Rocky has had to forfeit a game. The Battlin’ Bears were ranked in the top 10 nationally when it forfeited a 35-30 win over Southern Oregon in 2013. Rocky also had to forfeit a 68-39 victory over Black Hills State in 1993, and the entire 1992 season.