Defensive lineman Emmanual Duron charged the field and slammed referee Fred Garcia to the ground in a Dec. 3 game.
Following Texas high school football player Emmanual Duron's attack on a referee during a recent game, the University Interscholastic League executive committee voted to levy additional penalties on Edinburg High School, head football coach J.J. Leija and Duron.
On Monday, the five-person executive committee suspended Duron from all league-sanctioned activities for the remainder of the 2020-21 academic year, according to The Monitor of McAllen.
Duron, a senior defensive lineman, charged the field and slammed referee Fred Garcia to the ground shortly after Garcia ejected Duron for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Edinburg police officers escorted Duron out of the stadium, and he was charged with Class A assault the following day.
"I'd like to say I'm sorry for what happened to my coaches and to my family and to the UIL," Duron said in a statement Monday, via The Monitor.
Following the Dec. 3 incident, the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the University Interscholastic League immediately launched an investigation. The Monitor reported Edinburg High administrators suspended Duron from school for three days and suspended him from all extra-curricular activities for the rest of the school year. The UIL board upheld that decision on Monday.
The committee also voted to put Leija on a one-year probation for the 2021-22 school year and placed Edinburg High's athletic programs on probation for two years.
As the District 31-6A Defensive Player of the Year last season, Duron also served as the Bobcats' kicker and punter and was named The Monitor's All-Area Boys Wrestler of the Year in 2020.