The two San Antonio high school football players who targeted a helpless referee during a game two weeks ago say they were following the orders of one of the team’s coaches.
In an appearance on “Good Morning America” on Friday, Michael Moreno and Victor Rojas — accompanied by their attorney — told George Stephanopoulos that they were instructed by John Jay High School assistant coach Mack Breed that referee Robert Watts needed to “pay the price” for what he had done.
“On the sideline he pulled me and another player over and told us, and I quote, ‘You need to hit him. You need to hit the ref. He needs to pay the price,'” Moreno said.
The reason, according to the suspended students, was that Watts had allegedly used racial slurs toward multiple players on their team and made a number of “unjustified calls.” Both Moreno and Rojas said they heard Watts call a black player the N-word. Rojas claims Watts told a Hispanic player “this is America, speak English.”
Moreno said hitting the official is “one of my biggest regrets” but reiterated that he was simply following orders.
“You put your trust into this grownup, a guardian, your coach, who’s been there for me since my sophomore and freshman year,” he explained. “I trust him that he wants the best for me and I just did what I was told.”
If you have not seen the video of the two players sprinting at Watts and hitting him, you can watch it here.
Moreno and Rojas were suspended from school for three days, placed in alternative education for a week and kicked off the football team for the remainder of the year. It remains unclear if charges will be filed.
Video via Uproxx
