Things got physical between a player and a referee during a Missouri high school football game on Thursday.
Midway through the game between Glendale and Kickapoo, Glendale wide receiver Joelle Rover was grabbed by a referee after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Video showed Rover breaking out for a 47-yard touchdown and doing a celebratory dance with a teammate before the official grabbed the receiver’s chest and pulled him to face the other direction.
The two then had a brief but heated conversation in the end zone before going their separate ways, but not before the referee lunged toward Rover as they were walking away.
Glendale head coach Frank Tristan was then seen yelling at another official about the situation at the end of the video.
“He doesn’t need to be touching my player,” Tristan said. “You talk to me. That’s ridiculous. He needs to grow up.”
According to Fox 4 Kansas City, Glendale already received two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties during the game.
The Missouri State High School Activities Association eventually caught wind of the incident and suspended the referee indefinitely.
“We were made aware of the situation, and the official in question has been suspended indefinitely,” MSHSAA communications director Andrew Kauffman told USA Today in a statement.
Springfield Public Schools, to which both Glendale and Kickapoo belong, said it was working with the MSHSAA to resolve the incident.
“We have engaged with MSHSAA to ask them to review the situation due to our concern,” SPS Chief Communications Officer Stephen Hall said, according to Fox 4.
Despite the heated exchange, Glendale easily defeated Kickapoo in a 35-6 victory to move to 4-3 on the season. Kickapoo now has a 1-6 record.
