ESPN Duped Into Airing A Football Team From A High School That May Not Exist

If you're a fan of American football, you can probably recall a time your favorite team got the snot kicked out of them, but your team never suffered a defeat so terrible it led people to openly wonder if your team actually exists.

Such was the case with Bishop Sycamore High School of Ohio, who got absolutely annihilated on ESPN last Sunday, losing 58-0 to IMG Academy. As the rout was on, ESPN announcers implied that Bishop Sycamore may have lied to get on national television.

Carnell Tate AGAIN! This one was all EFFORT 😤@carnelltate_ l #GEICOHSKickoff pic.twitter.com/IxP6UxVmxn

— Who's Next (@WhosNextHS) August 29, 2021

Here's what ESPN's announcing crew had to say during the game:

"You look at IMG and this is the most talented prep team in the country. Bishop Sycamore told us they had a number of Division I prospects on their roster, and to be frank, a lot of that, we could not verify. They did not show up in our database, they did not show up in the databases of other recruiting services. So, OK, that’s what you’re telling us, fine, that’s how we take it in. From what we’ve seen so far, this is not a fair fight, and there’s got to be a point where you’re worried about health and safety.
“I already am worried about it. I think this could potentially be dangerous given the circumstances and the mismatch that we have here. And quite honestly, Bishop Sycamore doesn’t have not only the front-line players, but they don’t have the depth in case something were to happen to their roster with a kid or two here throughout the remaining two quarters of this football game.”

So what happened? Well, the story of Bishop Sycamore soon transcended football catastrophe to full-blown conspiracy about the school's very existence. As of Wednesday, the school's official website leads to an oopsie woopsie page promising the actual website is "coming soon." Furthermore, Ohio's list of charter schools notably does not include Bishop Sycamore. Last year, it said the school was a "non-chartered, non-tax supported school." And finally, there isn't an actual address for the school, just a P.O. Box.

USA Today got a hold of Andre Peterson, the school's founder and the team's line coach, said that the team's head coach, Roy Johnson, was fired and attempted to confirm that Bishop Sycamore was indeed a real school.

There’s nothing that I’ve gotten out of this that would constitute it as a scam because I’m not gaining anything financially from what we’re doing. The reality of it is that I have a son (Javan) that’s also in the program and has been in the program for four years.
If it’s a scam and the kids are not going to school and not doing what they’re supposed to do, then I’m literally scamming myself. And most importantly, I’m hurting my own son. So when people say stuff like that … I would literally be taking my son’s future and throwing it in the trash.

Peterson also clarified that the P.O. Box address was to protect students who were supposedly harassed pre-pandemic.

Despite Peterson's explanation, it seems that the Bishop Sycamore controversy is more than just a case of a poorly-managed athletic program getting in over its head. The recently-fired head coach, Roy Johnson, is in a great deal of legal and financial trouble, and could be using Bishop Sycamore and another supposed-school he created, Christian Faith Academy (which could just be the first name of Bishop Sycamore) to cover his debts.

Awful Announcing ran an interview with Ohio High School Athletics Association official Ben Ferree, who had been following Roy Johnson for years. Ferree pointed out that there are multiple lawsuits against Johnson for failing to pay back loans he's taken to supposedly support his football teams.

It’s just for Roy Johnson to make money. I know he is, because it can all be proven via court records. Schools… like he will call up a powerhouse school in Maryland, and say “We will come play you but golly gee, we are this struggling organization, so you need to pay us money to pay us to get there.” And the school in Maryland will say no problem. Then all of a sudden, hey, there’s a lawsuit in Delaware County, Ohio because Roy Johnson never paid the busing company. Okay. So where did that money go? Maybe it went to the hotels? Nope. There’s a lawsuit, he never paid the hotels. Maybe it went to the helmet manufacturers? Nope, there’s a lawsuit. Never paid them. So, maybe it went to the banks where he took out loans? Nope, there’s lawsuits. He never paid the banks where he took out the loans. He just pockets the money.

Furthermore, Aaron Boyd, an athlete who was recruited by Christian Faith Academy, testified to Complex that "CFA" was the original name of Bishop Sycamore and that he never went to actual school, but "did go to a community library once."

Ultimately, the scandal has made its way to the governor of Ohio, Mike Dewine, who has requested an investigation into Bishop Sycamore to see if it's meeting educational standards.

Schools like Bishop Sycamore have an obligation under Ohio law to meet certain minimum standards. Whether Bishop Sycamore meets these standards is not clear.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) August 31, 2021

The next time your favorite football team gets its butt kicked, just be thankful the blowout won't set off a chain reaction that could lead to it potentially being shut down by the government for potential criminal activity.