Montclair High forfeits football wins after player allegedly falsified documents
A player on the Montclair High football team has been arrested by the Montclair Police Department on suspicion of submitting falsified documents to play, according to a statement emailed to The Times by the Chaffey Joint Union High School District.
Elisha Frisco, 19, was arrested and booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday, Sgt. Rod Godoy of the Montclair Police Department confirmed. Frisco has since been released.
According to a Friday letter sent by Montclair athletic director Bill Blades to the Southern Section and obtained by The Times, the football team will forfeit five wins from last season and one this season “due to having an ineligible player,” Blades wrote.
Montclair finished with a record of 9-5 last season. It forfeits victories against City of Industry Workman, Hacienda Heights Wilson, Hemet West Valley, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Pomona.
Name, image and likeness issues for high school athletes as well as fan behavior are among the issues to be discussed at annual CIF commissioner meeting.
The basketball team will also forfeit a Dec. 17 win against Rim of the World, according to the letter.
Montclair High administrators learned on Sept, 2 of allegations that a 19-year-old who had already finished high school was playing on the football team, according to Chaffey Joint Union Supt. Mathew Holton.
After reaching out to Frisco’s parents, the district contacted the Montclair Police Department, which began an investigation.
“Montclair police determined that the individual misrepresented himself in the enrollment process for the purpose of playing football, and he was arrested for submitting falsified documents to the school,” Holton wrote.
Southern Section assistant commissioner Thom Simmons confirmed Wednesday that the section had been notified of the situation, and Montclair was investigating internally. The program has started this season with a 1-2 record, with a win Sept. 2 over Pomona.
“We will work with the California Interscholastic Federation to determine any possible implications to the program as a result of the ineligible player,” Holton wrote.
Legendary coaches, outstanding athletes and assorted officials will be inducted into the City Section Hall of Fame during a ceremony in April 2023.
According to MaxPreps, Frisco was a freshman at Calvary Baptist High in La Verne in 2017.
Blades and football coach Martin Bacon did not respond to requests for comment. The Montclair Police Department is still investigating, Godoy said, adding Montclair High is not suspected of wrongdoing.
On Sept. 3, in response to a tweet about the allegations, Bacon tweeted, “First off this is the first I’m hearing this and to think that my self as a coach and Montclair as a program would do something like that is crazy. Second as a school we will get to the bottom of this cause that’s the right thing to do. That’s what I say.”
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