Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance announced Monday that its varsity football program “has been suspended for the 2025 season and all games are forfeited.”
The decision came a day after a booster claimed to have paid parents of players at Narbonne and St. Bernard in the past, and said he had been “helping” the Bishop Montgomery program in recent months.
After an investigation, done in coordination with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Department of Catholic School (DCS), the school administration said it had “self-reported additional violations of the CIF-SS bylaws related to transfer students.”
Last month, Bishop Montgomery, which had more than 20-plus incoming football transfers for this season, had five players ruled ineligible by the CIF-SS for violating CIF Bylaw 202 and falsifying information. On Saturday the school announced that football coach Ed Hodgkiss, who also served as co-athletic director the school, was fired.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Leuzinger, which was scheduled to face the Knights on Friday night, said that the Bishop Montgomery had informed it that the game would be canceled.
Bishop Montgomery had to forfeit last week’s game against Mater Dei after several players were suspended for leaving the bench area during an altercation late in the season opener against St. Louis in Hawaii.
As for the football program, the school said that Mike Hall, a longtime assistant, will serve as the interim coach “during this time of transition.” The school added that “as the investigation is ongoing, there may be further changes to our varsity football program as needed.”
The letter stated that the school “will be working with CIF-SS and DCS to remedy any issues, so that our varsity football program can take part in the 2026 season.”
The Knights had remaining games against: Leuzinger, Hart, Pacifica, St. Genevieve, St. Monica, Bosco Tech, St. Bernard and Mary Star.
Monday night, Brett Steigh, a known football booster, said on a podcast that the players that transferred into Bishop Montgomery’s program was his doing. He added: “The (Bishop Montgomery) head coach (Hodgkiss) had nothing to do with this, he didn’t know about this.”
The letter, which was signed by Principal Dr. Michele Starkey and President Patrick Lee, concluded: “We recognize the gravity of this situation and we are deeply sorry for the lapses in oversight that resulted in violations of CIF-SS regulations. We are instituting corrective actions aimed at ensuring compliance and preventing such issues in the future.”
There are still numerous players that haven’t had their transfers cleared by the Southern Section.
Since varsity football is no longer an option at Bishop Montgomery this season, CIF Bylaw 207 states that “when the former school, in which a student has been enrolled, discontinues a particular program in which the student had previously been enrolled or participated, and that student transfers to another school because of these circumstances, the student shall be determined to be residentially eligible for unlimited participation in the new school.”
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