BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) – The Athletic Director of Catholic High School, Ben DiPalma, has issued a statement in response to reports of a Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) investigation that ended earlier this summer.
The LHSAA ruled that Catholic would be stripped of its 2017 and 2020 state championship wins.
“In March of 2021, the LHSAA informed Catholic High School that it was under investigation regarding alleged violations within the school’s football program that potentially occurred in 2017. Catholic High School administrators worked diligently with the LHSAA to aid them in their investigation in whatever way possible. The investigation concluded in May of 2021. It was determined that Catholic High School’s 2017 and 2020 State Titles, and the 2018 and 2019 State Runner-up titles would be revoked.”
“CHS respects the confidentiality policy between the LHSAA and member schools, and will not comment further. As this matter is now closed, we look forward to moving on to the 2021 Football Season and post season under new head coach, David Simoneaux.”
This offseason, Catholic Head Football Coach Gabriel Fertitta left the program for a quality control assistant position at Louisville.
Fertitta was 43-8 in his four years at Catholic including the 2 state titles in 2017 and 2020 and the 2 state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019.
All four have now been revoked.
Last season, the Bears defeated Rummel in the Division I semi-final round and C.E. Byrd in the Division I championship.
In 2017, they defeated John Curtis, 20-14 in the Division I championship game.