District suspends assistant John Jay coach in probe of hits on referee
DANIEL CLIFTON • EDITOR
SAN ANTONIO — Northside Independent School District officials have placed a John Jay High School assistant football coach on paid administrative leave and is filing a complaint against the referee who two of its football players blindsided during the Sept. 4 game between John Jay and Marble Falls at Mustang Stadium.
“All of us are heartbroken over the situation that occurred at the game Friday night between John Jay and Marble Falls,” said NISD Superintendent Brian T. Woods during a news conference Sept. 8. “The incident is shameful and in no way reflects who Northside ISD and Jay High School are.”
Both players were suspended from the team.
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NISD Executive Director of Communication Pascual Gonzalez said during a Sept. 8 news conference that, in the district’s investigation, John Jay players allege the referee made racial slurs toward them.
Gonzalez added that the district is treating the situation as an assault on a school official.
The referee, who has been identified as Robert Watts and has 14 years of officiating experience, has denied this claim through his attorney.
NISD officials have placed John Jay High School assistant football coach Mack Breed on paid administrative leave.
Gonzalez said players alleged the assistant coach said “that guy needs to pay for cheating us,” or words to that effect. Breed, who played at John Jay High School, has been with the district since 2010.
Woods said the district is interviewing players, coaches and game officials regarding the incident.
The University Interscholastic League, which oversees extracurricular activities at Texas public schools, scheduled a hearing at 10 a.m. Sept. 9 to hear a report of possible rule violations.
During the Sept. 4 football game, two John Jay High School defensive backs appear to target Watts, who could not see them. One player was lined up to the left and behind Watts while the other was set up to the right and behind the man. With about a minute left in the game and Marble Falls running out the clock, the player to Watts’ left and behind him races at the referee at the snap of the ball and hits the official, turning his shoulder into the unsuspecting Watts.
Watts goes to the ground. Then, the second player, coming from the right of the official, appears to put his helmet down and strike the man as he lay on the turf.
During the ensuing calls, the referee ejected the two John Jay players. NISD officials confirmed that one of the players ejected from the game wasn’t involved in the hit.
The player who was involved in the incident later drew a flag for making a late hit on Marble Falls quarterback Cade Cool, who was taking a knee to run out the game clock.
Marble Falls won the game 15-9.
Marble Falls ISD officials are not making a statement regarding the incident as it is an ongoing investigation. Officials also confirmed that MFISD did not release the game footage to social media. As per protocol, the coaches did load the game film to the website Hudl, which serves as a game film exchange between coaches.
Marble Falls police are investigating the hit on the referee and will turn over the evidence officers gather to the Burnet County Attorney’s Office for possible prosecution.
While there has been some call by people for NISD to cancel the John Jay football season, school officials said they aren’t going to do that.
“It simply is not fair for the 200 students in the program to pay for the actions of two,” Woods said. “This incident is shameful and deeply troubling. Our responsibility as educators is to use this as a teaching moment to the rest of the student body and especially to the athletes that actions have consequences and that making the right choices is important.”
NISD includes 117 schools with more than 105,000 students. Of those students, 14,000 are student-athletes.
daniel@thepicayune.com