High school football: Bishop Sycamore's legitimacy questioned after nationally televised blowout by IMG Academy - MaxPreps

No. 2 IMG Academy's 58-0 blowout win Sunday over Bishop Sycamore (Columbus, Ohio), the last of seven games televised as part of the GEICO ESPN High School Kickoff, is being universally panned. 

Many are claiming Bishop Sycamore, an upstart, online charter school not sanctioned by the OHSAA, scammed its way into the lineup. Many questions lingered Monday on how the game landed on IMG Academy's schedule and how Bishop Sycamore earned a spot on national television.

Among the many signs and findings from various sources that this was a bogus matchup:

• Bishop Sycamore had a game Friday, losing 19-7 to Sto-Rox (McKees Rocks, Pa.), less than 48 hours before Sunday's drubbing at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.

• Bishop Sycamore reportedly told ESPN that it had numerous players with FBS offers, something later refuted.

• During the contest, announcers voiced concerns about the health and safety of the Sycamore players.

• Early in the first quarter, Bishop Sycamore's starting quarterback went out with an injury. Over the next several series, a new player took snaps, none were listed as quarterbacks, according to ESPN announcers.

• The third-year program was 0-6 in 2020, outscored 227-42 including 56-6 by IMG Academy. In 2019, the team's first season, it went 5-6.

• The school's website lists no address or staff and there is no roster on MaxPreps.

Paragon Marketing Group, which for two decades has been lauded for putting together almost all of the top national high school matchups, said it would have canceled Sunday's game had it known the Centurions had played earlier in the week.

ESPN released a statement in part that read: "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. They have ensured us that they will take steps to prevent this kind of situation from happening moving forward."

This wasn't the first time Bishop Sycamore's veracity of a program was questioned. In 2019, it was banned from the 12-team Freedom Bowl in Georgia for a "breach of contract." Its game with Mainland (Fla.) was canceled, according to the Dayton Beach News-Journal. According to the Freedom Bowl's director of operations, Bishop Sycamore failed to provide a roster ahead of a deadline and didn't not book a hotel within a 30-day window, which was required in the contract.

Coaches and fans throughout Ohio have tried to distance themselves from the Bishop Sycamore program, noting its non-affiliation with the OHSAA. Many Ohioans expressed a desire for another program from the state to be displayed on national television.

Since its 2019 inception, the program has been described as "a lightning-rod of controversy in the Columbus area and beyond," according to a September 2020 story on indeonline.com.

"They're trying to provide a different way to help kids," Massillon coach Nate Moore said. "They've got a bunch of post-graduates, probably the best way to say it. If you called them a 'prep school,' you'd be like, 'Oh, isn't that nice?' I don't think they're the evil beast that some people make them out to be."

They have a heck of a schedule remaining, including two dates with nationally-ranked teams, at Duncanville (Texas) on Sept. 10 and at St. Frances Academy (Baltimore) on Oct. 22. They have one game scheduled with an Ohio squad, at perennial state power St. Edward (Lakewood) on Sept. 24.

Monday afternoon, Bishop Sycamore director Andre Peterson and head football coach Roy Johnson took to a podcast to answer questions from the media and general public to explain the school and program’s direction and try to clear up misconceptions.

Both acknowledged using fifth- and sixth-year players and that at least 15 of the 50 players on the roster played both Friday and Sunday, including an 18-year-old who took a majority of snaps at center. They also said the program practices at parks and open fields and has yet to start online academics in the 2021-22 school year.

"It starts September 1," Johnson said.

When asked about specific players and their alleged college offers, Johnson said, "We have to take accountability for what’s going on. As a staff, we need to do a better job to verify if they really have offers. ... Overall, we're hearing the scrutiny,  taking advice, listening and growing. We'll do better at getting out information on our kids, getting rosters together, because we want you to hear their stories."

After being taken to task on numerous issues from conditioning, to player safety, to academics, to traveling out of state to taking on national powers as a third-year program, Peterson summed up the last 24 hours like this: "Listening and reading all the comments over Twitter, agreeing and not agreeing with much of the criticism, beyond all the things we’ve done wrong and could do better, at the heart of the program, we’re here to help these young men."

Photo by Jeff Harwell

Florida's IMG Academy beat Bishop Sycamore 58-0 on Sunday in a nationally televised game that has many questioning the legitimacy of the upstart Ohio program.

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