Texas’ University Interscholastic League has opened an investigation into a bizarre incident involving one of its high school football referees on Friday night. Video of the strange occurrence very clearly depicts an official rip the helmet off of a player’s head before issuing a penalty on said player and throwing him out of the game.
That’s exactly what happened. There is no room for interpretation. It is truly dumb-founding.
Whitney High School is located about an hour southwest of Dallas and traveled to James Madison High School in Dallas on Friday. The Wildcats played the Trojans at Seagoville Stadium.
James Madison faced a fourth down situation from midfield when chaos ensued. Trey Haynes, the son of Whitney head football coach and athletic director David Haynes Jr., was lined up at linebacker.
Video, initially posted by his mother, shows Haynes bump into an official while backpedaling in coverage. It was an accident and nothing came of the clear mistake.
And then Haynes tried to make a move around the official. They bumped into each other again.
At that point, the official stepped in and grabbed Haynes.
The Texas high school football official went on a power trip.
As he kept the 5-foot-11, 225-pounder locked up, the referee proceeded to grab his helmet and rip it forcefully from his head with two hands. In rapid succession, the official proceeded to throw a flag.
Haynes’ mother filmed the incident from the stands. It did not look good.
Haynes kept his cool and walked away, but for some reason, he was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and ejected from the contest. Seriously.
The whole thing looked even worse on film.
Here’s the view from the film… pic.twitter.com/nMpuzc2FC5
— Dillon Hightower (@CoachHightower3) September 30, 2023
Wildcats offensive line coach Joey O’Hearn made it abundantly clear that their program does not find any fault in Haynes’ behavior. He also showed a lot of grace toward the official, all things considered.
As a coach of the player involved, on the sideline, and have watched every play of this game multiple times today I can tell you this… Our player was not at fault in any way shape or form, he was making a play on the ball and this official abused his power on the field.
My opinion is the official had a momentary lapse in [judgment] and did something really stupid. Then made the situation worse when he ejected our player instead of discussing it rationally.
— Joey O’Hearn via CBS Texas
The referee involved in the incident has not been identified. However, the status of his job is in limbo as the UIL (Texas high school sports’ governing body) assesses the situation.