UMD Football Players Benched for Underage Drinking Violations

DULUTH - A move-in-weekend party gone wrong has left a handful of University of Minnesota Duluth football players on the bench and without scholarships.The football team is trying to move forward after 25 players were caught drinking at a house party Sunday night. Many players were handed minor consumption tickets. This isn't the first time players have been caught having a little too much fun. For some players, it's their second, even third time getting in trouble for drinking. Those players are facing serious consequences that will affect not only them, but the team throughout the season."Underage consumption is unfortunately a relatively a common thing," sighed UMD’s head football coach Kurt, Wiese. "These guys made a big mistake. The guys that made the mistake and the guys that didn't - they're all going to feel the repercussions on Saturday night." Five big name players have been stripped of their scholarships, and will be watching Saturday night's home opener from the stands."We hold a couple carrots over these guys’ heads,” Wiese said. “Playing time and scholarship money are two of them and we hope that this hits home." The party happened at 1010 East 9th Street in Duluth’s Hillside Neighborhood. “It was pretty much the same as every college party we go to,” said Duluth police community Officer Matt Nevanen. “Loud music, loud voices.” When police showed up, more than 75 people, including multiple football players, were inside. Nevanen says he could quickly tell many people at the party were on the football team, and handed out more than 30 tickets at the party. "When the fourth or fifth guy shows up that's 6'5 and 300 pounds - you guys must be athletes of some sort," Nevanen said. Coach Wiese says as far as he's aware, the party was hosted by his players, and because of that he's also stripped two seniors of their captain duties."Disappointed in our senior leadership,” Wiese said. “Disappointed in our captains for allowing this to happen." The coaches and UMD hope to use this incident as a harsh, but much needed lesson. Police have not released the names of the players involved in the party because the tickets haven't been officially processed. Duluth police report they busted 32 different parties over Labor Day weekend. They handed out 127 citations – 57 of those for underage drinking and 10 social host tickets. The numbers are up from the 2013 move-in-weekend festivities. Last year, police only handed out 84 citations. In 2012, the number was even lower at 43 citations.