Blame spreads in case of tackled high school football referee

SAN ANTONIO --Anyone who has seen the video of a high school football referee getting blindsided by two players had to wonder: Why did they do it? Accusations are flying as Texas officials began their investigation.

The video of two San Antonio John Jay Texas high school football players viciously tackling a referee has been viewed more than nine million times online.

"It's the most egregious event that I've ever witnessed in my 40 years of public education," said Charles Breithaupt, who heads up the University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body that oversees high school sports. "This was intentional, it was on purpose, and it seemed to be premeditated."

During the school board investigation, players claimed that after a few bad calls, assistant football coach Mack Breed said: "This guy needs to pay for cheating us." Breed is now on administrative leave.

Several players also accused the umpire, Robert Watts, of using racial slurs during the game. Alan Goldberger, Watts' attorney, denies the claim and says both players should face justice in a court of law.

"It's a game," said Goldberger. "It's a children's game. It's not appropriate to go assaulting somebody feloniously -- two people -- in that fashion at a children's game for whatever reason, particularly a bogus reason, a made up reason that doesn't even exist."

The two players have been kicked off the team, suspended from school and could face criminal charges.

"At this point we will treat the incident where those two young men attacked the umpire on the field as an assault on a school official," said Northside superintendent Brian Woods.