Another high school has abruptly canceled its football season over accusations of hazing, this time in Pennsylvania.
The Central Bucks High School West football season has come to an end over charges that a new player was forced to grab another student’s genitals during a recent summer training camp.
School superintendent David P. Weitzel said in a written statement that the varsity and junior varsity football seasons have been ended due to the charges. He also said that the homecoming game will not be played and that the coaching staff has been suspended “pending further investigation.”
The superintendent said the school investigated allegations of “improper conduct by numerous Central Bucks West football team members,” and lamented the “failure of the coaching staff to properly supervise activities.”
Along with the genital grabbing, student were also said to have undergone a sort of “waterboarding” where towels were placed over their faces and water poured into their mouths.
School authorities initially said that a police investigation resulted in the determination that no crime had been committed. Officials are still looking into whether charges might be brought.
“I offer my sincere apologies to any member of the football program who was subjected to the demeaning actions of fellow players who should have served as role models,” Weitzel said in the statement.
“I am committed to this school district and all of the good that it represents. Please know that we will continue to support the Central Bucks West community as we work through this unfortunate situation,” he concluded.
This is the second high school this month that has canceled a football season over allegations of hazing.
Officials at New Jersey’s Sayreville War Memorial High School canceled the football season for all levels of the program–freshman, junior varsity, and varsity–over allegations of hazing.
After the allegations were made the Sayreville Police Department and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office began an investigation. As a result, school superintendent Richard Labbe said that authorities found there was “enough evidence to substantiate there were incidents of harassment, intimidation and bullying that took place on a pervasive level, on a wide-scale level, and at a level in which the players knew, tolerated and in general accepted.”
Sayreville had won their division’s state championship three years running from 2010 through 2012.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com
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