LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — An official with the Arapahoe Youth League reached out to FOX31 after a story on the Bear Creek Bears not being able to play in a championship game was posted on Friday.
The league official had serious allegations against the coach of that team, which should have played their championship game on Saturday.
The third-grade youth team was recognized for reaching the championship game in their league at halftime of the Bear Creek High School football game. Photos showed the kids with their coaches standing proud during the presentation.
That game didn’t happen because of penalties charged against them by the Arapahoe Youth League.
On Saturday, an official from the league elaborated on those penalties, which ranged from coaches setting bounties on opposing players to picking fights with referees.
“The bounty is false, that never took place,” said Joshua Cordova, head coach of the Bear Creek youth football team. “If that was the case, the official would have never allowed us to continue to play a football game.”
Cordova said those charges stem from when he coached a seventh-grade team but his third-grade team suffered the consequences.
Cordova even claimed the football league changed notes from past meetings, reflecting past infractions by the team to support penalties now.
“They actually went back and doctored the minutes,” Cordova said.
“They never had that in the meetings but once we started to question it as to why I’ve been banned, they went back and doctored those meetings,” Cordova added.
FOX31 spoke with and made arrangements to interview a league official about the allegations against Cordova and the Bear Creek Bears.
That league official did not make the scheduled interview time and did not answer our calls.