A former member of Cheltenham High School’s football team testified during Monday’s preliminary hearing in Jenkintown that he was a sophomore when he was assaulted after football practice, NBC10 reported.
According to his testimony, fellow football players stomped him with cleats, punched and kicked him, and held him down while attempting to assault him with a broomstick.
NBC10’s coverage of the student’s testimony aligns with The Philadelphia Inquirer’s coverage from late July, in which an anonymous parent said that her then-15-year-old son told her that his teammates had used a broomstick during an assault inside the locker room after a practice in August 2025. The student was assaulted again in September, during which he was “thrown on the floor and punched and kicked in the head and testicles”, The Inquirer wrote.
According to 6ABC’s coverage, the student is now 16 and has been homeschooled since the incident.
Cheltenham High School’s football season was suspended last October and canceled a month later. In late July, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and Cheltenham Township Acting Police Chief Richard Schaffer announced charges against numerous Cheltenham High School football players and coaches.
Head coach Terence Tolbert, associate head coach Darian McFadden, assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III, and volunteer coach Ralph Burney, have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and conspiracy. Yesterday’s hearing was meant for a judge to determine which charges against the coaches should move forward and whether any should be dismissed.
Defense attorneys argued the coaches did not know the full extent of what happened sought to have the charges dismissed, NBC10 said. Prosecutors said text messages show the coaches conspired to keep the incidents a secret.
Prosecutors also introduced a previous news clip in which McFadden denied that hazing had occurred.
“None of that stuff is true. It didn’t happen; our kids are different. They don’t get into those types of things,” McFadden said in the clip shown in court, as quoted by 6ABC.
Players Isaiah Simpson, and Josiah Peeler, both 18, have been charged as adults. Simpson is charged with conspiracy to aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, and related crimes. Peeler is charged with false swearing for being untruthful to police.
Four additional players allegedly involved in the assaults have been charged as juveniles.
A short video shown in court depicts an alleged assault from mid-August during summer football practice. You can watch NBC10’s video coverage of the hearing here. 6ABC’s video coverage is below:
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