If you were watching the IMG Academy-Bishop Sycamore game Sunday, you saw a lopsided affair once again showing IMG’s dominance. However, did you know Sycamore shouldn’t have even been on the field, to begin with?
Bishop Sycamore, supposedly based in Ohio, might not even be a real high school as the Ohio High School Athletic Association doesn’t recognize them as legitimate. FootballScoop pointed out that they appear to be an online-only charter school with a spotty website. They went 0-6 last season and were routinely blown out.
Complex.com found that Sycamore had played a game that Friday with players that were older than high school age, several being junior college dropouts. On top of that, their coach Roy Johnson allegedly has an active arrest warrant for fraud charges.
“We regret that this happened and have discussed it with Paragon, which secured the matchup and, handles the majority of our high school event scheduling,” ESPN said in an official statement. “They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward.”
Paragon Marketing Group president Rashid Ghazi denied knowing of Sycamore’s Friday game and said the company did not do due diligence in researching the team.
IMG won 58-0 with a running clock starting during the second quarter. ESPN broadcaster Anif Shroff summed it up by saying, “Bishop Sycamore told us they had a number of Division I prospects on their roster. To be frank, a lot of that we could not verify.”