The association that oversees high school sports, is investigating the athletic department at Berlin High School after allegations surfaced that some students were being moved from another town so they would be eligible to play football in Berlin.
Sources told NBC Connecticut that some of the players moved from the New Britain school system to Berlin.
According to Berlin Supt. David Erwin, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, or CIAC, is reviewing the residencies of the whole football team, which has a 6 and 1 record.
“We’re just wanting to make sure that all the students that are playing on our Berlin High School football team are indeed legitimate students living here in Berlin,” Erwin said.
The allegations are against head football coach, John Capodice, who’s coached at the school for around 18 years. Erwin said Capodice has not been suspended, and games and practices are continuing as planned.
“We’ve had some allegations made here from other people. Once we got those allegations made, they were in contact with CIAC, as well as we were in contact with CIAC because we want to do the right thing by our athletes and our students,” Erwin said.
Students are not eligible to play if they have poor grades, have been suspended or don’t reside in the same area where they play sports.
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New Britain Supt. Kelt Cooper released a statement about the allegations.
“The New Britain School District is aware of the current investigation being done by the CIAC. We are cooperating with Berlin and CIAC officials,” the statement from Cooper said.
Officials from CIAC said the situation is under investigation and they have no further comment.
