High school football: HBO documentary about Bishop Sycamore football team set for 2023 release

It was one of the biggest stories of the 2021-22 high school football season ... and one of the biggest debacles. Now, HBO has announced it's producing a documentary on the Bishop Sycamore (Columbus, Ohio) football team called "BS High."

Bishop Sycamore made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2021 after the Centurions passed themselves off as a legitimate high school football program that duped everyone in a story that sounds more like an elaborate April Fools Day prank.

The reality is that the Ohio school with no physical campus and not sanctioned by the state athletic association scammed its way into a nationally televised game with powerhouse IMG Academy.

The 58-0 result was either tragic or comical as the Centurions, who had played a game 48 hours prior to the IMG contest, were overmatched and embarrassed on cable television. The fallout was the remaining games on Bishop Sycamore's schedule being canceled and an investigation opened by the state Department of Education.

The HBO documentary, slated to stream sometime in 2023, picks up the story in the aftermath of the game, following the investigation into head coach Roy Johnson and how he and the school were able to pull off such an elaborate scheme.

“The blowout,” HBO noted in a release, “caused fans and audiences to question the legitimacy of the Bishop Sycamore program and the activities of now-fired head coach Roy Johnson.”

Johnson is reported to have agreed to participate in the production and a short clip released by HBO shows him in a behind-the-scenes look at filming as he says to the camera "Do I look like a con artist?"

Travon Free, a writer for "The Daily Show" from 2012-16, and Martin Desmond Roe, an Academy Award winner for his work on "Two Distant Strangers," have been tabbed to direct the show. Former NFL player Michael Strahan is among the executive producers.