Bracetti Charter drops football
ONCE AGAIN, fielding a varsity football team has proved to be dicey for a Public League school with a small enrollment.
ONCE AGAIN, fielding a varsity football team has proved to be dicey for a Public League school with a small enrollment.
For the second time this season, and fourth in 3 years, a program has vanished.
Robert Coleman, the Pub's sports czar, said Tuesday that administrators at Mariana Bracetti Charter accepted his suggestion to "dissolve the team" for the rest of 2011.
Bracetti, new to the Pub in football, went 0-4 and was outscored, 153-18. Only 14 players were in uniform Friday during a 36-0 loss to Communications Tech, and that game was halted with 8 minutes left because of fighting.
Thomas FitzSimons' program was shut down shortly before this season began. In 2008, Esperanza (charter) Academy broke the city record for points allowed (455) in its first and only season. Freire Charter (four seasons) disappeared after that campaign, as well.
Bracetti staged its home games at playgrounds, which produced major security concerns.
"The Bracetti people showed me a roster with 29 players, with physicals for all 29," Coleman said. "But when only 14 kids show up for a game . . . Obviously, there are issues."
Per PIAA rules, Coleman said, Bracetti's players are now allowed to join teams that represent schools in the areas where they live. It is unclear how many will take advantage.






















