Massachusetts high school football team has ENTIRE football season canceled after hazing incident

A depraved video has emerged from a Massachusetts high school showing a freshman dragged on the floor and stripped of his clothes while another player in their underwear straddles his face.

The short video which showed three football players hazing another circulated on social media last month prompting Haverhill high school to cancel the remainder of its playing season.

Members of the coaching staff have also been placed on paid leave while police investigate the incident.

The video posted to Boston 25 appears to show three teenage boys, one of them wearing a Haverhill football shirt, dragging another teen across the floor of a locker room.

It goes on to show a fourth teen in underwear standing over the victim's head 'twerking' into his face for 10 seconds while the others scream and cheer.

'Haverhill Public Schools is currently investigating misconduct involving some members of the high school football team,' a statement released by the school read.

'The investigation is ongoing and significant material was uncovered which impacts the direction of the investigation and the entire school community.'

All future football practices have been canceled. Future games, including the Thanksgiving home game against Lowell High School, have been forfeited.

A depraved video has emerged from a Massachusetts high school showing a freshman dragged on the floor, stripped of his clothes while another player in their underwear straddled his face

The short video which showed three football players hazing another circulated on social media last month prompting Haverhill high school to cancel the remainder of its playing season

The team finished 3-7 over the regular season and missed the MIAA Division 1 playoffs.

Haverhill's only remaining scheduled game would have been that Thanksgiving Day game. Lowell, also 3-7, will win the game by forfeit.

'Given the seriousness of the misconduct, the district has decided to end the current football season – cancelling all future practices and forfeiting future games.'

Under federal and state student privacy laws, the school said they are 'prohibited from disclosing any further information'

'[This includes] any discipline or specific safety measures that have already been or will be imposed as a result of the investigation,' the statement continued.

'Haverhill Public Schools will not tolerate hazing, harassment, or retaliation in any form.

'Any such misconduct will be responded to swiftly and it will undoubtedly have lasting repercussions for all of those involved.'

The school has urged parents with children at the school to discuss if they have any knowledge of hazing at school and to share that information with the principal.

In a statement, Haverhill Mayor James J. Fiorentini called the incident 'disgusting' and called for the players involved to be permanently removed from the team.

'I am alarmed, concerned and frankly disgusted by what I have been told and by the video that I was shown,' he said.

All future football practices have been canceled. Future games, including the Thanksgiving home game against Lowell High School, have been forfeited

Haverhill's only remaining scheduled game would have been that Thanksgiving Day game. Lowell, also 3-7, will win the game by forfeit

'I fully support the superintendent's actions in cancelling the Thanksgiving game, suspending those involved and conducting a full investigation.'

Fiorentini went on to say that parents deserve to know that when their children play high school sports that they are safe.

'I look forward to being further briefed on this tomorrow by phone and when I return this weekend. This can never be allowed to occur again,' he added.

Students told WCVB that the incident took place in the locker room of the school's football stadium, Trinity Stadium.

'It was gross. It was dirty. It was disgusting. I didn't like what I saw,' said student Elliot Batista.

'It was pretty nasty, making us look bad. It's not good. It's not good for our school. It's really not a bad school.'

'A freshman getting dragged down on the floor, them pulling down his pants and pulling down the other dude's pants and humping him in the face. It was very nasty. It was very nasty,' said student Felix Molina.

Paul Magliocchetti, an attorney and member of the Haverhill School Committee, told the broadcaster that he is disheartened by the situation.

'I condemn this behavior and there are laws against this kind of behavior, and they crossed some serious lines,' Magliocchetti said.

On Wednesday, another former player, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke out about their own alleged hazing incident in 2014 which forced them off the team

Paul Magliocchetti, an attorney and member of the Haverhill School Committee said the Haverhill School Committee is scheduled to meet at 7 pm Thursday to discuss the incident

'We're going to abide by the law, abide by our policy and we'll make sure this is handled appropriately and that the people involved are disciplined accordingly.'

The Haverhill School Committee is scheduled to meet at 7 pm Thursday.

Magliocchetti said the committee will likely go into an executive session in order to determine the next steps that should be taken in the hazing investigation.

On Wednesday, another former player, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke out about their own alleged hazing incident in 2014 which forced them off the team.

'I had my cleats urinated in. I had somebody's genitals in my face at some point. Not as bad as the incident that just happened,' the player told Boston 25 News.

The person told the station they did not believe he and the most recent target of the hazing incident were the only ones who have been victimized. The person claimed he was forced off the team when he spoke up.

'It makes me angry, but at the same time I have learned from those experiences,' the person said.

Last spring, several schools across the state were faced with the emergence of hazing incidents on their athletic teams, some resulting in criminal charges against athletes and ties cut with coaches, athletic directors, and top administrators.

Following reports of the misconduct, including alleged racial and homophobic hazing assaults on a Danvers High School hockey player and the beating of a 14-year-old boy on the Woburn Memorial High School football team, Attorney General Maura Healey convened a conference of policymakers to address the abuses.