BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana High School Athletic Association has suspended the football seasons of both Thrive Academy and Capitol High School following an investigation into a postgame brawl between the two teams that broke out last Friday night.

The ruling comes after the LHSAA Sportsmanship Committee, made up of five active school principals from the executive committee, met separately with administrators from both schools to review written statements, video footage and submitted documentation of the altercation.

Both Thrive Academy and Capitol High are suspended from football competition for the rest of the 2026 season, including all postseason play. Coaching cards for football staff from both schools have also been revoked for one full calendar year. 

Prior to the LHSAA's ruling, Thrive Academy Superintendent Paul Sampson announced on Facebook that the school had completed an internal investigation and proactively decided to suspend its own season.

"Thrive Academy is suspending the remainder of the 2026 football season. We hold every Thrive program to a high standard, and this decision reflects that," the statement read. "I recently met with our football parents to share the decision directly and answer their questions. I am grateful to the families who attended."

Sampson also noted that Thrive's head coach and athletic director vacated their positions a week before the school year began and a replacement coach left after just one week.

"Looking ahead, we have launched searches for both a new head football coach and a new athletic director. Suspending the season gives us the opportunity to get an early start on this process." Sampson added. "We are committed to finding the right leaders to build the program our student-athletes deserve, and we will share updates as each search moves forward."

This marks the second major set of sanctions issued by the LHSAA in recent weeks, coming shortly after Carroll High School's season was suspended and Assumption High School's remaining home games were canceled following a late-September brawl between Carroll High players and Assumption High fans.