Nine Granite Bay High School football players were suspended for the Nov. 7 game against Sierra Foothill League rival Oakmont for violating team policies.
   According to multiple sources, the players were at a home where alcohol was present a week before the Oakmont game.
   This infraction of team rules, while not a district code of conduct violation, resulted in the one-game suspensions.
   The Sacramento Bee reported that Coach Ernie Cooper confirmed the suspensions were for violating team policies.
   All athletes in the Roseville Joint Union High School District sign code-of-conduct statements in which they pledge they will not use drugs or alcohol during their seasons. Violations of this policy result in an automatic six-week suspension from athletic participation.
   “There is still an ongoing investigation,” assistant principal Brian McNulty said after the Oakmont game. “But we cannot release information while the investigation is going on.”
   The incident was reminiscent of last year’s soccer suspensions. In October 2007, eight varsity soccer players were suspended for the rest of the season when school officials learned they had used marijuana on a tournament trip to Illinois. The soccer players were also suspended from school for five days, because the violation occurred on a school-sponsored trip.
   Even if the investigation determines that players consumed alcohol, they would not be subject to school suspensions because the athletes were off campus in a private home. They would, however, see their football seasons come to an end for violating the code of conduct.
   “I have seen first hand the repercussions of using substances,” said one of last year’s suspended soccer players. “And I know there are pressures, but these guys know the consequences when they sign the code of conduct, and they saw what happened last year.”
   This is at least the second suspension of GBHS varsity football players for being in the presence of alcohol off campus. In 2006, more than 20 football players and cheerleaders were suspended by coaches and advisers for a game against Metro League foe Kennedy for being at a home where alcohol was present on the Tuesday night before the district 184th teacher training day.
   In that situation, administrators could not determine whether any alcohol was consumed by any players or cheerleaders, and so the athletic code guidelines did not apply.
The most significant difference between the football incidents and the soccer suspensions is that the soccer players admitted they had smoked marijuana. No football players have admitted drinking alcohol in this fall’s incident.
   “I have no clue whether the (football players were drinking), but they should own up to it if (they) did,” the soccer player said.
   According to sources who spoke to the Gazette on condition of anonymity, the football players gathered in a local home on Nov. 1, the Saturday night after the then-No. 1-ranked Grizzlies suffered a stunning 35-34 loss to Roseville. Parents learned of the gathering later that weekend and at least one parent reported the players – which included five captains, sources said – to the GBHS football coaching staff on Monday, Nov. 3.
   Team officials didn’t inform the administration of the possible code of conduct violations until Friday, Nov. 6.
   The Gazette contacted several members of the varsity football team, but they declined to comment.