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Two young men claiming to be members of the football team at Covina (Calif.) High School and raising money for the team unwittingly knocked on the wrong door.
The house belonged to an assistant football coach at Covina High in Southern California, and his Ring doorbell video captured the exchange between the coach and two young men wearing face coverings on Monday.
“We’re fundraising for Covina high school,” one of the young men said while raising a flyer into the air. “We’re working really hard, sir.”
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Standing behind his closed front door, the unidentified assistant coach replied, “Yeah, actually it’s funny you bring that up because I know a fact that you guys don’t go to Covina because I teach there.’’
Undeterred, the young man said, ”I play the running back position, sir.”
“I’m a football coach there at Covina,” replied the man, who later quizzed the scammer by asking who the head football coach is at Covina High School.
“Uh, Hernandez?’’
Wrong. And soon the young men were making a quick exit.
The head coach is Dale Ziola, who confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the homeowner was one of his assistant coaches. He did not provide the man’s name, but he did address the incident.
“While others are trying to take advantage of people posing as Covina Football Players, (Covina High School) would not put our precious student athletes in harms [sic] way to make a quick buck,’’ Ziola tweeted. “During the pandemic, fundraising has been extremely difficult. It is a shame that there are those taking advantage of the situation, robbing innocent people and tarnishing the good name of Covina High School Football.’’
Ziola declined to comment further, saying, “The school district has a muzzle on school employees, so I’m not allowed to talk.’’
But in his tweet, Ziola noted the Covina Colts Gridiron Club had started a GoFundMe page for “wishing to honestly help out.’’
Attempts to reach the high school’s principal and athletic director were unsuccessful.
