IMG Academy sees Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna cancel regular season football game

For the third straight year, IMG Academy isn’t getting a full football season.

The Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday that Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna, the Ascenders’ opponent for the last regular-season week on Nov. 5, dropped the game.

According to IMG Academy, the Ascenders’ coaching staff was in transit ahead of Saturday’s game against Tulsa, Okla., Booker T. Washington at the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., and could not be reached for comment.

Phone calls from the Herald to Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna’s athletic department seeking comment were not returned Thursday.

The Ascenders were scheduled to travel to play the Lions, who are ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press Class 3A state rankings, for the November meeting.

Their cancellation follows Triple-A (Dallas, Texas) Academy’s forfeit in 2015 and Hialeah Champagnat Catholic’s forfeit in 2014. Triple-A forfeited prior to stepping onto the field, while Champagnat Catholic walked off the IMG Stadium field trailing 48-8 with six minutes remaining in the second quarter of its regular-season finale with the Ascenders.

That move cost Champagnat, which had earned a playoff berth, a place in the Florida High School Athletic Association football playoffs the following week as a penalty for the mid-game forfeiture.

IMG is 2-0 this season and ranked No. 3 in the nation, according to USA Today’s Super 25 rankings. The Ascenders are scheduled to face three other Florida programs this year. They play host to Lauderdale Lakes Boyd Anderson on Sept. 23. They travel to West Palm Oxbridge Academy on Oct. 13 and Jacksonville Trinity Christian, a game scheduled to be televised on ESPN, on Oct. 21.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 1:13 AM with the headline "IMG Academy sees Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna cancel regular season football game."