Palmer football game at Dimond canceled as ASD continues to investigate allegations against Lynx football program

PALMER — A second Valley team has lost a game on its schedule as the Anchorage School District continues to investigate allegations against the Dimond High School football program.

The Palmer Moose were slated to travel to Anchorage to face Dimond in a Week 4 nonconference game Thursday. Late last week, ASD issued another release announcing the extension of the suspension of the Lynx football program. Dimond was forced to forfeit its Week 3 game at Colony High after ASD Superintendent Dr. Deena Bishop suspended the Dimond football program following allegations of misconduct during a team road trip to Lathrop High School during the second week of the prep football season.

“I will continue to evaluate when it may be acceptable to begin football activities, but for now, my focus is on student safety,” Bishop said in a statement issued by ASD. “Until I understand what happened and am satisfied that our student athletes are safe, my obligation to student safety requires that team activities be suspended. I also need to share that based on the timeline of the investigation, DHS football practices, games, and activities will remain suspended during the week of August 27 while this work continues. The decision is necessary to ensure the safety of all players and to conduct a comprehensive investigation. At the conclusion of the investigation, I remain hopeful that DHS football will be able to resume.”

Palmer head coach Rod Christiansen said all that the Moose can do is focus on preparing for the remainder of their season.

“It’s out of our control,” Christiansen said earlier this week. “It’s unfortunate for everyone involved.”

Christiansen said Palmer coaches and players learned about the cancelation shortly after a 34-6 win over Kenai Central last week in Kenai.

Christiansen said the Moose will now use the week to practice and prepare for three straight Railbelt Conference games. Palmer travels to North Pole during Week 5, and will host Lathrop and West Valley during the following two weeks.

“We’re working on getting better, doing what we can do to get healthy, get better for the conference games,” Christiansen said.

Contact Frontiersman editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.