ESPN: Coach ordered players to tackle referee

<p>Two Texas high school football players could face charges after back-to-back cheap shots during a game on Friday. But it wasn&#39;t against another player. No, they went after the referee.</p><p>One player from John Jay High School decked the ref from behind, then another dove into him while he was on the ground.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/07/us/texas-football-official-hit/" target="_blank">Both were ejected from the game</a>&nbsp;and later dismissed from the team.&nbsp;</p><p>&quot;The incident is extremely disturbing. Not the sportsmanlike behavior we teach students,&quot;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ksat.com/sports/northside-isd-launches-investigation-after-players-hit-referee" target="_blank">said an NISD spokesman.</a></p><p>Illegal hits are nothing new in football, but taking out an official is shocking. Which raises the question: How bad does a hit have to be before it&#39;s considered criminal?</p><p><a href="http://espn.go.com/moresports/story/_/id/13601567/john-jay-high-school-players-suspended-face-charges-hitting-referee" target="_blank">The ref who was hit certainly thinks the line was crossed.</a>&nbsp;A representative for the official said he was &quot;wanting to press charges&quot; and ensure the two aggressors &quot;never play football again.&quot;</p><p>Violence against officials is nothing to be taken lightly. In 2014,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/soccer-player-bassel-saad-sentenced-8-15-years-prison-killing-n323066" target="_blank">an adult-league soccer referee was killed</a>&nbsp;after a player punched him in the head because he intended to give the player a red card.</p><p>Bassel Saad pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and will spend at least 8 years in prison. And while the Texas incident wasn&#39;t nearly as serious, there will still likely be consequences.</p><p><a href="http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/catcher-in-ump-beaning-loses-college-scholarship/nFCxH/" target="_blank">Like in the case of Stephens County High School&#39;s baseball team</a>&nbsp;— the pitcher launched a high fastball right at the umpire&#39;s face and the catcher seemed to miss it on purpose.&nbsp;<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/story?id=4999835" target="_blank">The school was fined $1,000,</a>&nbsp;and the catcher lost an opportunity to play baseball in college.</p><p>So it seems if you go after officials on the field, there will be consequences after the game, no matter what. It&#39;s a bit tougher to define a criminal act when both parties involved are players.</p><p>Physical competitions can get a bit testy, and there are brawls all the time in professional sports. So you&#39;d really have to do something malicious to another athlete for the law to get involved.</p><p>In 2004, hockey player Todd Bertuzzi pled guilty to assault after sucker punching opposing player Steve Moore, breaking three of his vertebrae and ending his career.</p><p>&quot;Steve, I just want to apologize for what happened out there. I had no intention on hurting you and I feel awful for what transpired.&quot; (Video via&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djZ9_bo3e84" target="_blank">BCTV</a>)</p><p>Luckily, the high school football referee wasn&#39;t seriously injured. Officials said they&#39;re investigating footage from the game, and a hearing is scheduled for next week.</p><p><i>This video includes images from Getty Images.</i></p>