Ten Byron football players were disciplined amid a state-title quest for participating in a naked "Oreo run." School officials say the incident was not hazing. https://t.co/ymWyIO8XmU pic.twitter.com/0aGLaljhW3 — Register Star (@rrstar) December 1, 2018

Ten football players from a northern Illinois high school were disciplined in November after acknowledging that they took part in a naked “Oreo run” at the school’s football field. However, as the Rockford Register Star reports, school administrators concluded that the run — in which players moved across the school’s football field with an Oreo wedged between their buttocks — was not an act of hazing.

According to the Register Star, Byron (Ill.) High School administrators came to such a conclusion after interviews with nearly 30 varsity players and all the coaches and a review of security video footage. School administrators said the act was voluntary.

“We take any allegations like this very seriously, and we have a system in place to address it,” Byron Superintendent Buster Barton said, per the Register Star. “But this had nothing to do with hazing.”

As the Register Star reports, the players were suspended for indecent exposure and forced to sit out of games on Nov. 10, 17 and 23, the last of which was the Class 3A state championship game. In a letter sent to parents and obtained by the Register Star, the district said the run happened Oct. 26 and that school officials learned of it on Nov. 8. They called parents the next day.

Included in the games the players missed was the state championship game against Monticello (Ill.), the Tigers’ only loss of the season.

Head football coach Jeff Boyer declined to comment to the Register Star, but volunteer assistant and former NFL safety Sean Considine told the outlet he was comfortable with how the incident was handled.

“There was no thought given to the football season, wins or losses, who are the stars and who’s not, in this entire thing,” Considine told the Register Star. “It was dealt with using an iron fist, and I will stand by all of it.”

Byron School Board President Carol Nauman said the matter was handled professionally and correctly.

“The board was informed right away, and they investigated this to the very best of their ability. I’m confident in that,” Nauman told the Register Star. “They did everything they could (to protect the kids), and they have worked very hard to get this right.

“As far as making it better for the future, I think that’s going to take some time, but we need to work on that.”