NEW LONDON-- The Plainfield High School football team was back in action Friday, one week after team forfeited its last game as punishment for an inappropriate text message group between players on the football team.
The team was back on the gridiron Friday night at Cannamela Field at New London High School, with dozens of faithful Plainfield Panther fans packing the visitor's section despite the town suffering a black eye.
"Plainfield has a bad rap now, absolutely," said Jordan Pollard, a former Plainfield High football player.
The team forfeited its game on October 23 against Waterford High School after the school investigated allegations inappropriate pictures and videos were shared between players in a group cell phone chat.
"That's a fair punishment because you can't single out players, because that's identifying people," said Pollard.
Police said they didn't investigate the original incident, which is said to involve sexting between football players and cheerleaders, due to the lack of information about the exact content of message and lack of people coming forward.
"A couple people goofed up and now they're punishing everybody," said John Smallridge, a Plainfield resident.