WARREN, Mich. – The Warren De La Salle football team has forfeited its playoff game amid allegations of hazing in the team locker room, school officials announced.
The announcement to end the season comes on the eve of the Michigan high school football playoffs.
Recommended Videos
UPDATE: Police complete investigation, to recommend charges against 3 students
Officials at the high school learned this week of a hazing incident involving the varsity football team and its players.
School officials said they investigated the incident and found the hazing has deeper roots and is more pervasive than they thought.
“De La Salle Collegiate is a Lasallian Catholic school,” De La Salle President John M. Knight said. “At this time, as we continue our investigation, the school leadership feels that it best that we take a step back from the field of competition. We do so with sadness, but also with a heart and mind and spirit determined to do what is right. What is right for our young men. What is right for our community. And what is right according to our Lasallian Catholic values.”
The De La Salle football team has won three state championships in the last five years, including two in a row. The Pilots were scheduled to play Birmingham Groves High School on Friday in a pre-district playoff game.