EATON, Colo.—A youth football coach has been benched after punching another coach who objected to allowing an 11-year-old girl to play.
Police in the Weld County city of Eaton say the incident happened Monday when teams from the Boys & Girls Clubs and Eaton met for a scrimmage.
Shawn Mills, the coach of Eaton’s middleweight tackle football team, told police that he had warned Boys & Girls coach Nate Hernandez before that his team wouldn’t participate if the girl played “due to religious reasons” and that Hernandez starting calling him names.
At the scrimmage, Mills told police Hernandez came up to him with the girl, Makayla Crespin, and told Mills to explain to her why she couldn’t play.
According to the police report, Mills said Hernandez started swearing at him, pushed him and then punched him in the left side of his face, knocking him to the ground. Several coaches then came over and pulled the two men apart.
Mills doesn’t want to press charges.
“It’s over and that’s where I want it,” he told police.
Hernandez told The Denver Post he should have just walked away and feels badly about what happened.
“I take responsibility for what happened, and it shouldn’t have happened like this,” he said.
Greg Kimbrough, chief professional officer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Weld County, said Hernandez won’t be able to participate in any of the organization’s events.
Kimbrough said it’s the first time in about six years that someone has raised objections about playing against a girl.
“He should have said that we simply play as a team and canceled the scrimmage,” Kimbrough said.
