bishop montgomery

Eight football transfer students from Long Beach Millikan have been declared ineligible in the latest crackdown by the Southern Section, according to the section’s transfer portal.

Last week, Bishop Montgomery had 19 players declared ineligible. Several of those players have moved to Arizona to try to get eligible. The Millikan players received a two-year suspension for violating CIF bylaw 202, which involves providing false information.

Millikan previously announced it had forfeited two games for use of ineligible players. The team is 0-4.

In 2022, Millikan had to forfeit four games for an ineligible player and coach Romeo Pellum was briefly suspended by the school.

The Southern Section has been paying closer attention to transfer students for the last two years since requirements for paperwork went from two items to six, allowing for greater scrutiny.

There’s another Catholic school sports scandal under way, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles apparently was the only one who didn’t see it coming.

On Saturday, Bishop Montgomery in Torrance announced football coach and co-athletic director Ed Hodgkiss was no longer employed by the school.

In other words, he was fired.

He’s apparently going to be the fall guy for five Bishop Montgomery transfer students being declared ineligible by the Southern Section, multiple Bishop Montgomery suspensions imposed after players left the bench with 24 seconds left in a loss in Hawaii and Bishop Montgomery having to forfeit to No. 1 Mater Dei on Friday because of lack of players.

People in the Southern California football community have been talking about Bishop Montgomery for months as they saw one transfer after another welcomed to the school. Southern Section officials waited for weeks to receive the transfers’ paperwork. Five players were declared in violation of CIF bylaw 202, which includes providing false information.

If a school trying to rapidly improve its football program with short cuts sounds familiar, it is.

In 2020, St. Bernard turned to former Narbonne coach Manuel Douglas, who won eight City titles. Douglas was forced out at Narbonne and didn’t coach in 2019 after a nine-month Los Angeles Unified School District investigation. Narbonne was banned from the 2019 playoffs and forced to forfeit its 2018 City title for use of an ineligible player.

Douglas later resigned in the spring of 2020 when he came under an FBI and IRS investigation over money received from a Narbonne booster to pay for a trip to Hawaii while coaching at Narbonne.

St. Bernard proceeded to drop its football program in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This past week, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese wrote in an email in response to a request for an update about Bishop Montgomery, “The investigation is ongoing and there are no developments to share at this time. The school and the Department of Catholic Schools are in communication with the CIF Southern Section office as the investigation continues.”

Last spring, Bishop Montgomery’s new principal, Michele Starkey, was asked by The Times in a phone call, whose participants included new school president Patrick Lee, if she was aware of any involvement by the same Narbonne booster tied to Douglas’ resignation in Bishop Montgomery’s program. She said no.

The archdiocese should start its investigation right there. Players don’t start suddenly showing up from all over Southern California with no reason.

Lessons were not learned. Players from last year’s Bishop Montgomery team saw what was happening and transferred out. Maybe the Archdiocese should ask them what was happening.

A Bishop Montgomery parent wrote in a letter to The Times, “Returning players were demoted, excluded from trips or quit; Archdiocesan Catholic values appear secondary to short-term athletic exposure; despite my June outreach to the school, no reply ever came.”

Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee on Saturday were not returned.

It’s another big mess for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to clean up, and it was very much preventable if lessons from the past had been learned.

Ed Hodgkiss is no longer the football coach or co-athletic director at Bishop Montgomery. Principal Michele Starkey and president Patrick Lee made the announcement in a letter to parents on Saturday, writing Hodgkiss is “no longer employed at Bishop Montgomery.”

Bishop Montgomery and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have been scrambling to deal with the fallout from weeks of turmoil in the football program.

It started with the Southern Section declaring five transfer students ineligible this season for violation of CIF bylaw 202, which is providing false information. Then the team had numerous players suspended after a first-game loss in Hawaii when they left the bench with 24 seconds left. That forced Bishop Montgomery to forfeit Friday’s game against Santa Ana Mater Dei because of a lack of players.

The Archdiocese announced it would conduct an investigation into the transfer issues.

Hodgkiss came to Bishop Montgomery in 2010 from the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League.

Bishop Montgomery changed principals and presidents last school year and appeared to move to a different sports philosophy, accepting numerous transfer students with the hope of elevating the football program to a higher level of competition. The school is scheduled to leave the Camino Real League after this season.

No new coach was announced. Messages left for Hodgkiss and Lee were not returned.

Bishop Montgomery told officials at Mater Dei on Monday that it will not be able to play its scheduled football game Friday at Santa Ana Stadium, thus forfeiting to the No. 1-ranked Monarchs.

Numerous Bishop Montgomery players are subject to possible one-game suspensions for leaving the bench with 24 seconds left on Saturday in Honolulu during a 24-17 loss to St. Louis, another Catholic school.

The Southern Section assigned its South Bay officials unit on Monday to review video to determine which Bishop Montgomery players had left the bench, which would be a violation of CIF rules.

It has been a rough start for Bishop Montgomery, which already had five players declared ineligible by the Southern Section after a violation of bylaw 202, which involves providing false information after transferring.

Mater Dei opened its season Saturday with a victory in Florida and will move to 2-0 on the season. Bishop Montgomery drops to 0-2.

The Southern Section has declared five football transfers to Bishop Montgomery ineligible for violating CIF rule 202, which is a bylaw about providing false information and comes with a penalty of up to two years of ineligibility.

Bishop Montgomery has been under scrutiny for months because of numerous transfer students, coaching changes and a decision to try to upgrade the program by scheduling powerhouses Mater Dei and Honolulu (Hawaii) Saint Louis.

The Southern Section could offer no response until paperwork was submitted by the school. Now those five players, plus potentially others, are facing the possibility of missing the 2025 and 2026 seasons.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles replaced the president and principal of Bishop Montgomery last school year. New president Patrick Lee is a former St. John Bosco administrator.

Thursday’s Results

BASEBALL

City Section

Chatsworth 5, Palisades 4

Southern Section

Foothill Tech 14, Malibu 4

Leuzinger 14, Beverly Hills 8

Long Beach Wilson 1, Bishop Montgomery 0

Marina 1, Ocean View 0

Montebello 11, Mark Keppel 0

Newport Harbor 3, Dana Hills 2

Rancho Mirage 2, Xavier Prep 1

Rowland 16, Excelsior Charter 2

Royal 7, Agoura 0

San Marino 6, South Hills 4

Santa Fe 7, Corona Santiago 2

Savanna 7, Compton Early College 0

South El Monte 5, Temple City 0

Wiseburn Da Vinci 7, Lawndale 4

Intersectional

Peninsula 0, San Pedro 0

SOFTBALL

City Section

Hollywood 18, Belmont 3

Southern Section

Agoura 13, Highland 0

Bell Gardens 10, Downey Calvary Chapel 1

Bishop Amat 12, Perry 11

Bishop Montgomery 7, Bishop County-Loretto 0

Bonita 5, Fullerton 2

Capistrano Valley 9, Lakewood 2

Chadwick 6, Firebaugh 5

Chino Hills 5, Saugus 0

Cypress 8, Fountain Valley 2

Downey 15, Whittier 5

Excelsior Charter 14, Hesperia Christian 4

Fullerton 2, Anza Hamilton 1

Garden Grove Pacifica 3, Agoura 0

Highland 7, Palmdale 3

La Habra 7, Sunnyside 6

Lompoc 5, Dos Pueblos 4

Los Alamitos 3, Whittier Christian 1

Millikan 5, Chino Hills 4

Norco 12, Cypress 0

Santa Maria St. Joseph 1, El Toro 0

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 13, Flintridge Sacred Heart 2

St. Monica 22, Gardena Serra 4

Thousand Oaks 3, Righetti 2

University Prep 11, Granite Hills 2

Villa Park 4, South Hills 1

Westlake 8, Rio Rancho 2

Intersectional

Anaheim Canyon 8, Campo Verde 1

Anaheim Canyon 4, Murrieta Mesa 2

Hoover d. LA Leadership Academy, forfeit

La Habra 4, Ridgeline (UT) 1

Orange Lutheran 12, Central Catholic 6

Whittier Christian 10, Kofa (AZ) 0

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

MONDAY’S RESULTS

BOYS

Aliso Niguel 71, Beckman 60
Arcadia 82, South Gate 40
Bellflower 45, North Torrance 42
Bernstein 65, Corcoran 60
Birmingham 69, Los Altos 52
California 80, Eisenhower 61
Chino Hills 73, Los Osos 54
Christian 54, Capistrano Valley 50
Claremont 51, Mary Star of the Sea 44
Colony 54, King/Drew 51
Compton 89, L.A. Wilson 63
Crean Lutheran 73, AGBU 59
Crossroads 67, Price 61
Dominguez 55, Garfield 34
Dunn 63, Carpinteria 50
Excelsior Charter 57, Riverside Prep 45
Fairmont Prep 74, Diamond Bar 61
Faith Baptist 58, Trinity Classical Academy 44
Flintridge Prep 62, Verdugo Hills 36
Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) 73, Eastvale Roosevelt 55
Laguna Hills 84, Buena Park 67
L.A. Hamilton 65, Hoover 62
L.A. Jordan 74, Culver City 31
L.A. Roosevelt 80, Middle College 38
La Salle 67, North Hollywood 34
Hillcrest Christian 66, Grant 55
Inglewood 92, Los Alamitos 90
Malibu 62, Lake Balboa College Prep 49
Mayfair 75, Camarillo 72
Narbonne 54, Long Beach Jordan 46
Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 57, Victory Christian Academy 50
Oxford Academy 68, Glenn 42
Oxnard 69, Simi Valley 44
Oxnard Pacifica 84, Hueneme 45
Palisades 56, Bakersfield Christian Grayson 48
Palmdale Aerospace Academy 67, St. Monica Academy 52
Palos Verdes 79, Long Beach Cabrillo 70
Paraclete 73, Palmdale 53
Paramount 84, Fremont 50
Pioneer 75, Segerstrom 57
Rancho Mirage 60, Santa Monica 57
Riverside Poly 66, Moreau Catholic 56
San Bernardino 96, Pacific 20
San Diego Jewish Academy 69, Valley Torah 55
Santa Clara 66, Channel Islands 52
Santa Maria 57, Coastal Christian 51
Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 69, Sotomayor 48
Servite 60, Providence 55
Sonora 60, Salesian 46
South El Monte 59, Mountain View 47
St. Anthony 58, St. Pius X-St. Matthias 57
St. Bonaventure 62, Brentwood 57
St. Francis 70, West Ranch 45
St. John Bosco 64, JSerra 62
St. Monica 82, Gardena Serra 56
St. Paul 56, Bishop Montgomery 43
Tarbut V’ Torah 77, Avalon 41
Temple City 59, Monrovia 52
Tri-City Christian 75, California Lutheran 60
Verbum Dei 56, Loyola 55
Walnut 55, Marquez 47
Warren 57, Artesia 54
Washington Prep 69, South Pasadena 68
Wilmington Banning 54, Maywood Academy 29
Windward 74, Millikan 52

GIRLS

Beverly Hills 40, Torres 16
Bishop Alemany 55, Leuzinger 47
Bishop Montgomery 44, La Salle 41
Brentwood 75, Legacy 43
Brentwood 69, Fairmont Prep 59
Camarillo 61, Victory Christian Academy 47
Cantwell-Sacred Heart 51, L.A. Marshall 34
Canyon Country Canyon 76, Verdugo Hills 49
Coastal Christian 38, Santa Maria 32
Corona Centennial 70, Lakewood St. Joseph 61
Crenshaw 48, Carson 31
Crescenta Valley 60, Hart 46
Downey 52, Warren 30
El Dorado 47, Yucaipa 34
Esperanza 66, St. Anthony 51
Etiwanda 74, Incarnate Word Academy (Missouri) 65
Foothill Tech 56, Simi Valley 52
Gardena Serra 60, St. Paul 18
Grant 36, Agoura 18
Lawndale 56, Troy 52
Lynwood 49, Rosary Academy 44
Marymount 56, Flintridge Sacred Heart 39
Marymount 48, North Hollywood 47
Mater Dei 61, Windward 39
Newport Beach Pacifica Christian 54, Oak Hills 53
Oakwood 55, Burbank Burroughs 34
Oxford Academy 87, Glenn 10
Palmdale Aerospace Academy 31, St. Monica Academy 30
Pilibos 74, Sylmar 36
Rialto 63, Crean Lutheran 49
San Bernardino 56, Pacific 32
Santa Monica Pacifica Christian 57, Santa Clarita Christian 55
Saugus 51, South Pasadena 32
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 72, Newbury Park 48
South El Monte 60, Mountain View 12
South Torrance 49, King/Drew 44
Temple City 58, Monrovia 31
Washington Prep 67, Venice 44