Beverly Hills Forfeits to Hawthorne

Beverly Hills High forfeited today’s scheduled Bay League football game with Hawthorne because of the Beverly Hills Unified School District teachers strike, Principal Ben Bushman announced Thursday.

Bushman said the Normans will not play the game because co-coaches Bill Stansbury and Dick Billingsley are on strike. Beverly Hills also forfeited last week’s game with Santa Monica.

“We will not play unless we have our regular coaches,” Bushman said.

Beverly Hills’ players had practiced this week with substitute coaches.

The loss all but eliminates the Normans from playoff contention. They fell to 3-5 overall and 2-3 in the Bay League.

Bushman said Beverly Hills will continue to conduct practices in hopes of playing Palos Verdes next Friday if the strike is settled.

Hawthorne, which moved to No. 1 this week in the Southern Section Division II rankings, improved to 8-0 overall and leads the league with a 5-0 mark. The Cougars resume play next Friday against Leuzinger.