VIDEO: Ref grabs high school football player's facemask, causing helmet to come off; UIL 'looking into' it

DALLAS - The UIL said it is "looking into" an incident between a player and referee at a high school football game in North Texas Friday night in which video shows the referee grab onto the player’s facemask, causing his helmet to come off.

The player was thrown out of the game after having his helmet taken off by the referee.

This happened at the game between Whitney High School and Dallas ISD’s Madison High School at Seagoville Stadium Henry Field.

Video shows a linebacker dropping back into coverage, before making accidental contact with the ref. The ref then pushes him away to the left, before the player reverses field, following the ball, and makes contact with the referee again.

The ref then grabs the player’s facemask, and both appear to try to get their balance back, and the player’s helmet comes off, with the referee holding onto it after it comes off.

The player has a surprised reaction and the referee throws a flag. That’s when the video shared with FOX 4 ends.

David Haynes Jr. is the father of the player involved and the head football coach for Whitney High School.  His son, David Haynes III, goes by Trey. Trey’s mom shot the video of the incident. 

"In this incident, he was now tracking the quarterback, and the quarterback went to the other side of the field. And he ran into him and grabbed his helmet and pulled it off," Haynes said. "My son, that was the player in the incident, he said that the official had kind of kept bumping him as far as like he's dropping back in coverage. And he'll kind of get bumped by the official like he was behind them. So I was like, well just kind of adjust and go around him." 

After the altercation, Trey was ejected from the game. 

"I don't know what he got thrown out for. But when a kid gets thrown out, they got to miss the game next week. And my son's a senior, not all his games are guaranteed," Haynes explained.

The official involved is an umpire. It’s not unusual for an umpire to inadvertently get hit during a game because of his positioning on the field. 

Coach Haynes said the altercation upset him, adding that everything was normal up to the point of the altercation. 

"When you watch the film, it's just a normal football game, the kids are playing a football game. You know, normal penalties, normal everything, flags here, you know, every once in a while, but it's just a normal football game. So you wouldn't think that that would happen," he said.

The UIL said it is "aware" of this incident, adding that it is "of great concern" to them and they are "actively looking into the matter."

"I want stuff to be served and things to be done right. And my son, my son is, he's a coach's kid. He's a second-generation coach's kid," Haynes said. "I just want to see the UIL handle it because this could be somebody else's baby. Just like he's my baby, this could be somebody else's baby."

Haynes added that he doesn’t want the focus to be taken off of where it’s supposed to be: a successful season.

"I want him to be able to play all his senior year games. We're having a great season," he said. "And like I said, I don't want to take attention off of the season that we're having. We're 5-0 right now and Whitney has not had that in a long time." 

Whitney ended up winning the game 56-28.