Football Players at Conestoga High School Admit to Harassment in Locker Room Attack

Three football players at Conestoga High School in Berwyn admitted Tuesday to attacking a younger football player in the school's locker room in October, according to a press release.

The joint statement, which came from the Chester County District Attorney's office and defense attorneys for the three juvenile defendants, said they "have accepted responsibility for their conduct. They have made an admission to the criminal summary offense of harassment."

A trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday, but in releasing the statement, the parties said, "all the records are sealed and the parties will not be making any further public comment."

Contrary to accusations made in March by Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who said older players were accused of putting their genitals on younger players' heads and poking a younger player in between his legs with a broomstick, the statement said "one of the charged juveniles briefly poked the victim with a broom stick in the leg."

The head coach of the high school's football team resigned in the midst of allegations of systemic hazing. The October incident at the center of the charges allegedly occurred on what was known among the students as "No Gay Thursday," Hogan said in March.

The attack happened as older players ordered younger teammates to clean the locker room.

According to the statement Tuesday, "When the victim refused to clean and attempted to leave the locker room, he was shoved, pushed and briefly held down by the three charged juveniles in an effort to get him to clean the locker room."

In March, Hogan said that when the boy tried to leave, an upperclassman told teammates, "stick a broom up his a--."

"This is a simple case about ignorance, violence and a shocking lack of supervision," Hogan said in March.

In the statement, "The victim, the charged juveniles, and their respective families all would like the opportunity to move on with their lives. We all hope never to see an incident like this in Chester County again."

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