Three players from the Los Alamos High School football team were issued citations for a minor in possession of alcohol and possession of drug paraphernalia Sunday morning.
It is not known if seniors Zach Mang, Bradley Picard and Corey Clark are still on the team following the incident.
Los Alamos athletic director Vicki Nelms declined to comment, citing personnel issues. Messages for Hilltoppers head coach Bob Scott and Los Alamos principal Grace Brown were not returned Wednesday.
Mang, 16, is the starting quarterback and free safety, while Picard, 17, starts at tight end and strong safety. Clark, 17, is a wingback and cornerback.
According to a Los Alamos police report, officers pulled over a silver Honda driven by Picard for speeding on Diamond Drive at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday.
Picard admitted to drinking "some jungle juice" and struggled to complete the field sobriety tests.
Officers then discovered a two-liter bottle of alcohol and a multi-colored marijuana pipe, the report stated, but Clark, Mang and Picard denied knowing anything about either item.
The players were released to the custody of their parents and their cases were referred to the local juvenile probation office.
It is the second incident involving Los Alamos athletes and alcohol in the past two years.
In October of 2006, eight athletes — including two football players — were kicked off their respective teams for violating the schools' extracurricular activities code after being issued minor-in-possession citations.
The two players — Drew Benage and Mark Krone — appealed the decisions and were reinstated for the Class AAAA playoffs in November.
The school's current code states that athletes who use or are in possession of alcohol or drugs suffer 30-day suspensions upon their first offense and 90 days for the second.
You must register with a valid email address and use your real first-and-last name to comment on this forum. Once you've logged into the system, you'll be able to contribute comments. If you need help logging in or establishing your new user name and password, please write us.For information on our community guidelines and updating your username to meet standards, visit http://sfnm.co/sfnmforum.
All users are expected to abide by the forum rules and and be courteous to other users. Comments can be accepted up to eight days following publication. After that, comments can be read but no new submissions made. Send questions to webeditor@sfnewmexican.com
IMPORTANT: Comments must be posted under your own full, real name. Anonymous comments and those posted under a pseudonym can be removed. Please consult the forum rules. If you have questions, e-mail webeditor@sfnewmexican.com.