Two defensive backs on the John Jay high school football team in San Antonio claim their blindside targeting of an official during a game last week was in retaliation for racist comments the ref made. There is also an investigation into whether an assistant coach urged the players to retaliate because of several calls that went against John Jay. The students have been indefinitely suspended from the team and school. Mack Breed, the assistant coach under investigation, has been placed on paid leave.
Northside school district officials said that during the game, the suspended players “were feeling lots of frustration by what they perceived to be missed or wrong calls by the refs.” The players also alleged the referee directed racial slurs at them. The students allege that assistant coach Mack Breed, 29, said “that guy needs to pay for cheating us” or words to that effect, according to the district.
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Obviously, even if this is true, none of it excuses what those two players actually did. But at least it provides an answer to all the “what were they thinking?” questions. The two students will go through a disciplinary hearing where the matter will be handled as an assault on a school official. The referee, who the Austin American-Statesman identified as 14-year veteran Robert Watts, is considering pressing charges and denied the accusations as “libel and slander.”
According to Austin Football Officials Association secretary Wayne Elliott, the group’s primary focus is making sure “that those two kids never play football again.”
