Report: Texas football coach admits to ordering hit on ref

SAN ANTONIO -- A high school principal in Texas says the school's assistant football coach has admitted to ordering two players to hit a referee during a game earlier this month, reports ESPN.

In an internal school district statement obtained by the network, John Jay High School Principal Robert Harris says assistant coach Mack Breed told him he asked the students to hit the referee because the ref had used racial slurs and missed calls. In wake of the September 4 incident, the two students were suspended from school and removed from the football team.

The referee, Robert Watts, has denied using any slurs.

The two students, Michael Moreno and Victor Rojas, appeared at a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the Northside school district later told CBS San Antonio affiliate KENS the two will not be returning to John Jay High School. The spokesperson did not say whether they had been expelled.

Jesse Hernandez, a lawyer for the boys, said Wednesday that the two were paying for their actions and trying to move forward.

"The boys' focus here was on accepting responsibility for their actions," Hernandez said, according to KENS. "They're not the type of kids to do something like this. They admitted it was something a coach directed them to do."

Breed remains suspended from the district. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

According to KENS, the Marble Falls Police Department has an ongoing investigation into whether charges should be filed in the case.