A California high school football team has canceled the rest of its season because four players were accused of sexually assaulting a teammate, district officials said.
The announcement Wednesday by the Gilroy Unified School District follows allegations made last week against varsity players at Gilroy High School, where administrators were “fully committed” to continue the season despite an ongoing police investigation.
“However, the district has learned that most of the varsity players have chosen not to finish the season and therefore, at this time, the season will not continue,” district officials said.
Four Gilroy Mustangs were issued citations for sexual battery after the alleged assault in a locker room after a team practice that included the “use of force or fear,” police told the Mercury News.
“We investigated the allegations and determined there was evidence to support a criminal complaint,” Gilroy police Capt. Joseph Deras told the newspaper. “The aggravating circumstance was the number of suspects involved, and the use of force or fear played a role in our arresting decision.”
There’s no evidence that the assault was a “hate-motivated” crime, police said, but authorities and district officials have released few additional details about the allegations, including the names of the accused juvenile football players, citing student privacy.
Police in Gilroy, a town of roughly 60,000 in Santa Clara County, began an investigation into the claims on Sept. 26 after a report that several varsity football players were “involved in an altercation,” according to the Mercury News.
Evidence against the teens was being reviewed Wednesday by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether the students will be prosecuted. They have already been suspended from school and received juvenile citations before being released to their parents, the newspaper reports.
The scrapped season for the 0-4 Mustangs comes less than two years after their undefeated 2017 season, en route to their first-ever Central Coast Section championship.
The league’s commissioner, meanwhile, said the move was the first time he could remember an entire high school team sitting out for the remainder of the season.
“We’re kind of on new ground here,” commissioner Duane Morgan told the Mercury News. “These are all school-site decisions. They have some real good people at the district level and at the school site, making decisions with the best interest of their students.”