The head football coach at Berlin High School has been suspended and will not be able to participate in the final game of the season after the association that oversees high school sports in Connecticut sanctioned the team after an investigation into a recruiting scandal.
John Capodice, who has coached at the school for around 18 years, has been suspended as head football coach and assistant coach Rob Levesque will be coaching the team, according to a news release from Berlin Public Schools.
The CIAC investigation into the athletic department began after allegations surfaced that some students were being moved from another town so they would be eligible to play football in Berlin.
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On Wednesday, the CIAC Board of Control voted to accept Berlin High School's self-report of the football program violations of CIAC rules.
Superintendent David B. Erwin said the school had received the sanctions and feels badly for the football players, but hopes to put their best foot forward when they play on Friday night.
He also acknowledged that the football players "worked their hearts out this year" and that "to have it come down to forfeiting games is never pleasant in any case and that it is "kinda sad to see that come down."
The school is being fined $4,000 -- $1,000 for each of four ineligible players. The school will also forfeit all football victories this season in which any ineligible player participated and will not be allowed to play in the CIAC Championship for the 2015 season.
Another sanction is a one-year probation for the football program.
The ineligible athletes will be permanently ineligible to participate in athletic competition if they remain at Berlin High School and ineligible students who transfer to another CIAC member school, they will be ineligible to participate in athletic competition for the remainder of the 2015-16 school year and 50 percent of the 2016 fall season.
Capodice hired an attorney in response to allegations that he let ineligible players onto his team.
