Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday ordered a probe of Bishop Sycamore High School after the school’s football team suffered a blowout on national television last weekend, leading to inquiries about the legitimacy of the school, Cleveland.com reports.

Bishop Sycamore is a private school operating in Columbus, Ohio and describes itself as a “non-chartered, non-tax supported school.”  However, the address of the school on state documents turns out to be an indoor sports facility in Columbus and the school cannot prove that it holds classes for students.

Bishop Sycamore’s football team lost a 58-0 blowout Sunday to Florida’s IMG Academy, a sports-focused school that recruits athletes from around the country, in a game broadcast on ESPN.  The loss was the second for Bishop Sycamore’s football team that weekend:  it lost a 17-9 game Friday night to Sto-Rox High School, from Stowe/McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.

The national broadcast was arranged by a sports broker who claimed Bishop Sycamore had many Division I football prospects on its roster, a claim echoed by ESPN broadcaster Anish Shroff during the game.  Further research, however, found none of the team’s players listed on major recruitment sites.

DeWine said that the fact Bishop Sycamore played two football games in three days, a practice not banned by Ohio’s scholastic sports commission, but one that is highly unusual.  Probes into the school, which reportedly was established in 2019, found few academic records among the students.

“While this weekend’s football game brought concerns about the health and safety of players, it also raised red flags about the school’s operations,” DeWine said, adding that it’s “not clear” whether Bishop Sycamore meets minimum state educational standards.