Football
Exclusive | NYC high school’s JV football season canceled after 3 teens arrested for sexually abusing teammate in apparent hazing incident
Three teens were arrested for sexually abusing a fellow junior-varsity football teammate in an apparent hazing incident at James Madison High School in Brooklyn this week, The Post has learned.
Two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy allegedly held the victim down, pulled off his clothes and touched his “private area,” according to the NYPD and sources.
The incident unfolded at the school in Midwood on Wednesday, around 5:20 p.m., authorities said.
School sources said the attack happened after the team was left unsupervised in a locker room.
The trio was arrested and charged with forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment the next day, police said.
Insiders say the junior varisty football season has been scrapped in the wake of the attack on the 14-year-old boy, and that top city Department of Education officials have visited the school amid an investigation.
The next scheduled game for the James Madison Golden Knights JV team was scheduled for Sunday but has been forfeited, according to the Public Schools Athletic League website.
The team, headed by Coach Jamil Thomas, was set to face off against South Shore High School.
A mom of one player told The Post Saturday that parents haven’t gotten any answers regarding the incident.
“I don’t really know what’s going on and they’re not telling me,” she said.
School and PSAL officials did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Post.
The disturbing incident is the second in just over a year for the team.
Former James Madison boys’ JV football coach Nicholas Nugent allegedly smashed a 14-year-old player’s head into a wall in September 2023 after the teen dozed off during a team meeting.
Nugent was arrested on Sept. 18, 2023 and charged with multiple counts of felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and menacing. He pleaded not guilty.
The boy’s mom, Deslyn Willock, sued Nugent and the city for $2.5 million in August.
The case is ongoing. Willock said her son lost consciousness during the assault and needed six staples in his skull — and hasn’t played football since.
Nugent, who could not be reached for comment, has not responded to the lawsuit.
In 2015, The Post reported that a teacher at the school had daily sex with students.
At the time, the incident made that educator the fifth James Madison teacher in six years to have been involved in scandals at one of the city’s largest high schools.
The high school, which was founded in 1925, boasts such alumni as US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Comedian Chris Rock also attended the school before dropping out.