The two Texas high school football players who targeted and blindsided a referee during a Sept. 4 game said Friday on “Good Morning America” that they were ordered to attack the official by an assistant coach.
John Jay High School senior Mike Moreno and sophomore Victor Rojas told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that defensive backs coach Mack Breed instructed them to go after umpire Robert Watts because he made “unjustified calls” and allegedly directed “racial slurs” at multiple Jay players.
Moreno and Rojas’s comments echo the thoughts of the Northside Independent School District, which last week announced it is investigating Breed and placed him on administrative leave over the incident.
Both players were apologetic Friday. They were initially suspended from school before being placed in an alternative school, MySanAntonio.com reports, and could face criminal charges in Burnet County once the Marble Falls police department completes its investigation.
“To this day I regret it,” Moreno said. It’s one of my biggest regrets. It’s affecting my life greatly now,” Moreno said, adding “I would apologize for the mistake that I made.”
Rojas said Watts told the players to “speak English, this is America.” Both players claim they heard Watts use the n-word toward Moses Reynolds, a black teammate.
Breed then told Moreno and Rojas to attack Watts.
“You need to hit the ref. He needs to pay the price,” Moreno quoted Breed as telling them. “I can’t explain it. I was doing what I was told.”
Watts’s attorney had denied that his client made any racial clients, per MySanAntonio.com. The referee also is being investigated by the school district over his conduct in the incident.
