ESPN Reportedly Tricked into Airing Shady High School Football Game

ESPN aired a high school football game on Sunday that was so lopsided that its own commentators questioned the validity of Bishop Sycamore, who was matched against the defending national champions IMG Academy.

"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," said ESPN broadcaster Anif Shroff before pointing out the safety concerns regarding the Ohio school being so overmatched by the Florida powerhouse.

After the 58-0 blowout, sports fans and journalists pointed out some discrepancies regarding Bishop Sycamore. FootballScoop questioned if the Ohio school was even a real high school as it appeared to be an online-only charter school whose football team went winless last season.

On Monday, Awful Announcing published new details regarding the school and how it ended up on ESPN's nationally televised broadcast. According to the outlet, Bishop Sycamore had just played a game only three days before its matchup against IMG. In addition, the football team's head coach, Roy Johnson, allegedly has an active arrest warrant related to fraud charges.

It was also discovered that the Ohio High School Athletic Association couldn't verify the school's location, practice facilities, and roster eligibility, causing Bishop Sycamore to not be recognized as a real high school. According to Awful Announcing, many of Bishop Sycamore's players had already graduated high school.

Paragon Marketing Group -- the company responsible for scheduling the game -- admitted to not doing its due diligence in confirming the caliber of Bishop Sycamore's team. ESPN followed up the company's admission by releasing its own statement regarding Sunday's broadcast.

"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."

Source: FootballScoop