Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Forfeits Next Two Games

The Waterville-Elysian-Morristown Buccaneers will not have a football game in two weeks.

They were scheduled to play Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, but the Thunderbirds will forfeit their next two games due to a violation of school policy.

This statement is from the school district's superintendent, Tami Martin.

"On the evening of Thursday, September 29, the school district was made aware of actions that fell under the GFW Hazing Policy. A full investigation was started on Friday, September 30 and was concluded at 8PM on Monday, October 3.

"As a result of that investigation it was determined the we had students who had violated the school district hazing policy. The investigation results were shared with the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) and under their guidance it was determined that we did not have enough information to serve individual penalties, but we did have a school policy violation.

"During the investigation, this 'tradition' or horseplay, as the students have referred to it, did not reveal any physical harm. The coaching staff has been interviewed and it was determined that they had no prior knowledge before September 29. So, even though there will be no individual penalties under MSHSL, we feel that we need to send a strong message to the students at GFW that we will not tolerate actions and behaviors that fall within our Hazing Policy.

"This policy clearly states that students with direct involvement and those with knowledge of an action are responsible and penalties are to be imposed for both. After consultation with MSHSL, we decided to institute a 2 game penalty for all involved. Since we would not have enough players left to field a team after imposing this penalty, we will be forfeiting the next two football games.

"We have informed the local authorities of our investigation.

"They will have access to what we are legally required to give them. They will be determining if they need to take any further action. Should they decide to investigate this issue on their own and come up with evidence that would support additional penalties by the MSHSL those penalties will be enforced by the school. We hope you will join us in our effort to educate our students on our expectations for conduct at school, on the field, in interactions with teammates, and throughout their life.

"Many times the best lessons are the hardest ones. We feel this is an issue that we need to take a strong stance on in order to protect our students and to show them that we expect the utmost in all areas, but most definitely in the area of respect and care for each other. Due to federal data privacy laws we will not be going into any specifics.

"Practices will continue and as it stands now all players will be eligible to play on October 19, against Lester Prairie."

The varsity games being forfeited were against Norwood-Young America this Friday and Waterville-Elysian-Morristown next Friday.