MARBLE FALLS, Texas – Just hours after a football official broke his silence after possibly being targeted for a hit by two high school players, the governing body of Texas high school football announced a Wednesday executive committee hearing about the incident.
The University Interscholastic League (UIL) will be looking into the incident that happened during the John Jay High School vs. Marble Falls High School football game Friday.

In the incident, the umpire in the game was run over by a John Jay High player who appeared to target the official with the hit. A second player from John Jay High then led with his helmet and appeared to dive at the official who was on the ground.


Video of the incident has gone viral since the game. The umpire, who is from Austin, is “wanting to press charges” over the hit, according to ESPN.com.

http://www.wfaa.com/story/sports/high-school/football/2015/09/08/uil-hearing-scheduled-over-playerreferee-incident/71901656/

The Texas Association of Sports Officials released a statement Tuesday that read in part, “The unsportsmanlike conduct in question is absolutely unacceptable. The behavior seen on film is serious and warrants a full and thorough investigation by our organization, the UIL, the school districts involved, and law enforcement.”

The TASO said it was aware of actions taken by the Northside Independent School District into the incident and that they would “refrain from making public statements about the incident at this time.”

The official in question, identified by KVUE's partners at the Austin American-Statesman as Robert Watts, said he typically likes to keep his officiating “quiet.” However he knew the story would be “big news.”

“Libel and slander have already been committed against me. I will be contacting the appropriate people soon and any statement from me will come at a later date,” the official told TexasHSFootball.com.

The NISD said Tuesday the players who were involved in the incident may have been encouraged to hit the referee by assistant coach Mack Breed, who allegedly told them, “that guy needs to pay for cheating us.” The players also claimed the official uttered racial slurs at them during the game. The NISD said it filed a complaint about the racial slur allegation with the TASO.

A total of four players were ejected during the John Jay game against Marble Falls.

Both players involved in the incident have been suspended from the team and from school pending the results of an investigation by the NISD. Coach Breed has been suspended with pay while NISD investigates. The head coach of the John Jay team, Gary Gutierrez, has been cleared by the district of any involvement in the incident, according to KVUE sister station KENS5 in San Antonio.

Marble Falls police said it is conducting an investigation of the incident, but that "no arrests have been made at this time." Police said an update on the case would be released this week.

As far as the UIL state executive committee goes, it can publicly reprimand or suspend a student athlete, but has more options to deal with participating schools. The UIL can choose to impose a reprimand, public reprimand, forfeiture of contest, disqualify teams from district honors up to three years, or a mandatory disqualification.

The hit of the referee was reminiscent of an incident involving a Euless Trinity football player in 2008. The player intentionally ran over a game official during a playoff game, but no legal action was pursued, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Hopefully this is because they are trying to get the two thug players to cooperate about anyone elses involvement....otherwise, they should have ALREADY been arrested. Blatant attack that couldve seriously injured the unsuspecting ref.
Dont know how it works in Texas, but hopefully, the athletic governing body will come down hard on the school, coaches, and any other players involved. Hell, the whole team should be held accountable in some way because of the other numerous personal fouls and ejections that took place before the ref incident.