Southern Section declares 19 Bishop Montgomery

The Southern Section announced on Friday that it has declared 19 switch college students at Bishop Montgomery athletically ineligible for two years following an investigation that decided they violated CIF bylaws when transferring to the Catholic college in Torrance to play soccer.

The announcement comes after the varsity fired its coach, Ed Hodgkiss, canceled the remaining of its season after taking part in one sport and announced the resignation of President Patrick Lee following an investigation by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The Southern Section launched the next assertion: “Based upon the investigation, self-reporting, and findings of Bishop Montgomery High School, along with CIF-Southern Section’s own independent review, the Southern Section has determined that multiple students transferred to Bishop Montgomery High School to play varsity football for the 2025-2026 school year in violation of CIF bylaws.

“Notification has been sent to Bishop Montgomery High School administrators and parents/guardians of the football transfer student-athletes. Those determinations [have been/will be] posted on the CIF-Southern Section website in conformance with Section practices. The CIF-Southern Section and its staff will not comment on individual student athletic eligibility.”

The former coach and a number of gamers beforehand employed an attorney to examine the matter.

The Southern Section beforehand announced ineligibility for 5 gamers. After additional investigation, there are 20 gamers listed as ineligible on the Southern Section switch portal.

Some of those gamers had been anticipated to strive to switch to other faculties after Bishop Montgomery discontinued varsity soccer. They are listed as ineligible for two years.

For months in the spring and summer season, Bishop Montgomery had been touting its transfers. The college scheduled powerhouse Mater Dei for a nonleague sport even though its program was primarily Division 10 or 11 in past years. While transfers had been checking in, none of the paperwork was submitted to the Southern Section until August. That’s when bother started.

This yr, the Southern Section has been utilizing AI and presumably funds out there through the state CIF to rent investigators to double-check transfers submitted by faculties. Previously when a college authorised a verified change of handle, it was principally robotically accepted. There have been other faculties decided to have ineligible gamers, with Long Beach Millikan having to forfeit two video games.

This comes after a booster to Narbonne, St. Bernard and Bishop Montgomery, Brett Steigh, acquired a letter from an attorney with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles telling him to “cease and desist” from serving to any Catholic faculties.

Steigh went on a podcast to say he paid dad and mom to switch their sons to Narbonne in 2024 and he also helped pay tuition of soccer gamers at St. Bernard in 2020. The soccer program was dropped there in 2021, 2022 and 2023 after the pinnacle coach resigned in the center of an FBI and IRS investigation.