SANDWICH, Mass. -- Officials at Sandwich High School are interviewing every football player in their program to see if Tuesday's incident that critically injured a freshman player was part of a yearly hazing ritual.

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NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that 14-year-old freshman was left with a ruptured spleen after being attacked by several varsity football players on the field before practice.

At Sandwich High School these days, physical education means anything but football. The football field stands empty, Friday night's game against Abington forfeited by the school in the wake of Tuesday's suspected hazing incident that left Garrett Watterson, 14, in the critical care center of Jordan Hospital with a ruptured spleen.

"This has been absolutely devastating for me personally, for our coaching staff and for our kids," said Sandwich Athletic Director Marty Cosgrove.

School officials say their preliminary investigation indicates the roughing up of freshmen players by upperclassmen was not part of any organized hazing ritual.

"There appears to have been no dialogue, no preplanning, no premeditation and no reference to ritual or expectation," Principal Ellin Booras said.

What has not been answered is why there were no coaches on the field at the time of the incident.

"I can't give you a great answer to that," Cosgrove said. "The administration and our coaches are going to have to sit down and really take a good, long, hard look at ourselves and take a good, long, hard look at policies that need to be put into place."

Booras said the players involved in the incident are remorseful.

"To the person, all of our suspended students have been honest, they have been consistent and they have been deeply remorseful," she said.

"I'd like to think we, as a school system, we're going to do everything we can to make sure this never happens again. It's a very difficult lesson to learn," said Cosgrove.

School officials say the football season will start a week from Saturday with a reduced roster. Two players are off the team for good, and the future of another seven players said to have participated are under suspension.