Ten Players Suspended at Bishop Amat

Ten football players at La Puente Bishop Amat High have been suspended from school and will miss Friday’s Del Rey League game against Los Angeles Loyola for their roles in vandalism at the Santa Fe Springs St. Paul campus last weekend, Monsignor Aidan M. Carroll, Bishop Amat principal, said Monday.

The players were detained by police at St. Paul’s football field about five hours after Bishop Amat, ranked 14th in the region by The Times, defeated St. Paul, 24-23, on Friday night at St. Paul.

Police were called to the St. Paul campus about 2:50 a.m. Saturday and found 10 juveniles near the football field with bleach in their possession, Alan Dela Pena, spokesman for the Whittier Police Dept., said. No arrests were made and the students were held at the site until they were released to their parents.

Tom Fox, athletic director at St. Paul, said it appeared that a few spots of the field had been marked with bleach, but that, “it hasn’t really reared its head yet so we probably won’t know for another day [whether there was other damage].”

Monsignor Carroll did not identify the players, but called their actions, “deplorable,” and said they were suspended from school Monday and today while the school’s discipline department continues to investigate. Carroll said he would wait for a full report before deciding whether other disciplinary action would be taken against the players. Carroll said he also told St. Paul Principal Frank Laurenzello that players’ families would pay for any damage.

“I’m embarrassed and disappointed,” Carroll said. “I’m also concerned about the serious breakdown in parental responsibility. It’s totally unacceptable that our parents cannot account for the whereabouts and activities of their 17-year-old sons at 3 o’clock in the morning.”