Lisbon High is forfeiting its Friday home football game against Freeport in the wake of the ongoing investigation into alleged hazing by members of the Lisbon football program.
Superintendent Richard A. Green wrote “as a result of all LHS football related activities still being suspended, the varsity and JV games versus Freeport have been forfeited,” in an email sent Wednesday morning to the Portland Press Herald and other media outlets.
Lisbon also forfeited its Oct. 4 game at Mountain Valley High in Rumford. That forfeit came after the school suspended all football-related activities earlier in the day. That decision was made, Green wrote in an email, as “the result of an extensive internal investigation that the Lisbon Police has been involved with.”
The second forfeiture comes after parents and students were informed in a Monday letter that Lisbon schools hired a private agency to conduct its own investigation. Green said Wednesday that Lisbon Schools hired the Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum to conduct the investigation.
Green emphasized Monday that there is no timeline for the internal investigation to be completed.
In 2021, Brunswick’s school department hired Drummond Woodsum to conduct an investigation into alleged hazing at a football preseason team retreat. The law firm completed its investigation and filed its report to the Brunswick school department in 16 days. Shortly after the report was finalized, Brunswick fired longtime coach Dan Cooper, who was already on administrative leave, and then canceled the rest of the season. Brunswick went through an appeal process with the Maine Principals’ Association to be able to play varsity football in 2022. The MPA has a rule that states if a team is unable to complete a season, it is ineligible to play at the varsity level for two years.
Prior to the forfeits, Lisbon, which competes in Class D South, had a 2-2 record. The Greyhounds have two regular-season games left on the schedule: Oct. 19 at Medomak Valley in Waldoboro and home against Oak Hill/St. Dominic on Oct. 25.
Sun Journal staff writer Haley Jones contributed to this report.
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