High School football: Hollister forfeits the remainder of its season

HOLLISTER — Citing an ongoing investigation into its football program, the San Benito High School District has pulled the plug on Hollister’s varsity football season, canceling the remainder of the season and forfeiting its final six games.

The program had come under intense scrutiny of late for alleged incidents involving team activities outside of football practice, which cast doubt on a number of players’ availability for the remainder of the season.

“We determined that the number of available student-athletes was not sufficient to safely field a team for the rest of the year,” San Benito Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum said in a press release. “The district is reviewing a matter involving members of the varsity program.”

Tennenbaum, who is retiring at the end of the year, did not elaborate on the circumstances that led to the district’s decision to give the varsity football team the death penalty.

“We recognized the impact this decision has on those who have invested so much into the program,” Tennenbaum said. “Because the matter involves students and remains under review, the district is limited in the information it can provide.”

This is the second time in six years that a football program in the Pacific Coast Athletic League has forfeited its season for off-the-field behavior, as Gilroy shut down its season in 2019 after four games, finishing 0-10.

Gilroy moved in 2021 to the Blossom Valley Athletic League, where it is a member of the Santa Teresa Division in football.

“Right now I’m just feeling compassion for the kids and the parents,” Salinas coach Steve Zenk said. “I still have friends over there from when I coached at Hollister. The people I know over there are good people.”

Zenk was an assistant coach at Hollister from 2001-2004 before becoming a head coach at North Salinas. He has spent 13 years at Salinas, the last 10 as the school’s head football coach.

“I am assuming positive intention went into this decision,” Zenk said. “No one wants to ever see this. When these kinds of things occur, I don’t want to speculate.”

Hollister began the season 3-0, equaling its entire win total from 2025, before announcing four hours before kickoff last week that it was forfeiting its Gabilan Division opener to Alisal.

“I never got an explanation,” said Alisal athletic director Jose Gil, who was informed of the forfeit hours before kickoff last Friday. “I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s unfortunate.”

Because Alisal has a bye this week, it will go 20 days between football games.

“I think it is terrible on many different levels,” Palma coach Jeff Carnazzo said. “I feel for the kids that weren’t involved in it. I feel for the kids that were forced to get involved in it. Culture is so incredible in a school. Of course, that trickles down to football.”

Hollister was slated to host Soquel this Friday. The ‘Balers were going to be Carmel’s homecoming game on Oct. 23.

“If a district is making that decision, they don’t take it lightly,” Carmel athletic director and football coach Golden Anderson said. “For them to do that sends a strong message that whatever occurred won’t be tolerated.”

Prior to canceling its game with Alisal, the SBHS District put head coach Thomas Sullivan on administrative paid leave before facing Wilcox without an explanation, yet played the game that Friday, beating Wilcox 27-20 on Sept. 11.

Two weeks prior to that, a member of the football team not only left the team, but transferred to another school, citing the need for a better education.

“The window for high school sports is so short,” Anderson said. “For that to be taken away tells me the allegations are serious. It’s not a situation that anyone would have signed up for.”

Hollister did play its JV game with Alisal last week. As of now, it is scheduled to keep playing junior varsity games for the remainder of the season, as well as its freshman schedule.

Teams in the Gabilan Division can apply to forgo the forfeit and look for another opponent, although that’s highly unlikely at this stage of the season.

“If a team wanted to try and get a game in and didn’t want to take the forfeit, we might take that into consideration,” Pacific Coast Athletic League commissioner Tim McCarthy said. “Let me stress, that’s not automatic at all.”

The ‘Balers had opened the year with wins over Soledad and Alvarez before rumors began to unfold about team activities involving numerous players after practice.

It hasn’t been determined how long these alleged incidents had been going on.

“Additional information will be provided if and when it can be shared consistent with student privacy and applicable requirements,” Tennenbaum added.