Leading off today: Geneseo is forfeiting the remainder of the varsity football season in the midst of a police investigation into allegations of drug use by team members, multiple media outlets reported Monday.
In a statement announcing the termination of the season, Geneseo Superintendent Tim Hayes said "a number of players" have been dismissed from the team.
"Due to the sheer number of student-athletes involved and the serious nature of this incident, pursuant to our Athletic Code and the New York State Public High School Athletic Association standards, the remainder of the varsity football season will be forfeited," the statement said.
The school also forfeited last weekend's 26-24 win over Bolivar-Richburg that had raised Geneseo's record to 2-2. The Livingston County News reported Geneseo Police Chief Eric Osganian confirmed his department was investigating allegations that a player took Oxycontin pills from a parent and gave them to teammates before Friday's victory.
The Geneseo Police investigation is being assisted by the Livingston County Sheriff because one of the individuals allegedly involved in the incident is related to a member of the village's police department, Osganian said.
There had been no arrests made as of late Monday afternoon.
The Genesee Sun reported that as many as seven players may have been involved in the incident. The most recent team roster on the Section 5 football website listed only 21 players, and state rules require a minimum of 16 available players for games.
More off-the-field news: Vestal played Saturday's football game vs. Johnson City without four players apparently suspended in the aftermath of group text messages that may have contained racially charged language, The Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.
Coach Marty Fisher said the suspensions were handed out by school administrators and that he supported the decision.
Vestal defeated Johnson City 28-6. Fisher termed the suspended players "crucial guys" and said he expects them to be back in uniform when the Golden Bears host Ithaca on Thursday.
Loyalty is not dead: Joe Munno, the founder and president of University Prep in Rochester, has told me more than once that Jeenathan Williams was a stand-up sort and an asset to the school for reasons beyond his prowess on the basketball court.
I haven't spoken to Munno since Williams' decision this summer to transfer to a California prep school, but I think I have a better understanding of what Munno meant.
Though he holds scholarship offers from multiple high-major programs -- including North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Temple and Virgina -- Williams announced on
