S42 p o r t s FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2015

Conduct of coaches questioned in Texas referee incident ROUND ROCK: The governing body for Breed have been suspended by the Officials with Northside and the Texas The UIL said any state disciplinary action Texas high school sports questioned Northside Independent School District pend- Association of Sports Officials are investi- against the players or school won’t come Wednesday whether the coaches of two ing the investigation. “This has been an gating the incident. “We don’t have any before its next meeting Sept. 23. The case football players accused of intentionally ram- embarrassment for the school, the UIL and reason to believe the actions of those two also has prompted a criminal investigation in ming a referee should have done more to the state of Texas,” said committee member young men are representative of that Marble Falls, where the game was played. calm emotions in a tense game. The James Colbert of Houston. Dallas committee program or the student body of that Video from the game showed the referee University Interscholastic League’s executive member Gil Garza, who used to work in San school,” said Brian Woods, Northside watching a play, and his head snapping back committee heard from local officials on their Antonio schools, noted reported tensions in schools superintendent. when he is leveled from behind and another investigation into the incident involving San the game between Jay and Marble Falls high He said concerns about sportsmanship player then dived on top of him. Northside Antonio Jay High School. The organization is schools, including punches thrown, late hits could be “applied both ways.” Marble Falls school district officials have said that during investigating several allegations, including and ejections before the Jay players rammed school officials attended the meeting but the game, the suspended players “were feel- that the hit was prompted by something an umpire Robert Watts. declined an offer to testify. The Jay High ing lots of frustration by what they perceived assistant coach said and was preceded by “The only thing our kids really have is our School players, coaches and Watts did not to be missed or wrong calls by the refs.” The racial slurs from the targeted umpire. coaches. That’s where the leadership starts,” attend the meeting. Watts’ attorney, Alan players also alleged the referee directed The incident was caught on video and Garza told Northside officials, describing the Goldberger of New Jersey, has denied Watts racial slurs at them. sparked national attention and reaction. out-of-control atmosphere as “a time bomb made racial remarks. Watts has been a game The students allege that assistant coach Marble Falls beat Jay in Friday’s game, 15-9. waiting to happen. And it did.” Garza also official for 14 years and was recently nomi- Breed, 29, said “that guy needs to pay for Two Jay High School players, who have not questioned whether the game officials could nated for president of the Austin chapter of cheating us” or words to that effect, accord- been identified, and assistant coach Mack have done more to control the game. the Texas Association of Sports Officials. ing to the district. — AP

Samoan livewire Nanai-Williams no raw rookie AUCKLAND: Tim Nanai-Williams heads to the Rugby World Cup with just one test cap to his name but Samoa’s Pool B opponents would do well not to dismiss the electric outside back as a raw rookie. The versatile 26-year-old’s lack of international expe- rience reflects his relatively recent switch to the Samoan cause rather than any lack of rugby pedigree. A former New Zealand sevens international who once harboured ambitions to play for the All Blacks, Nanai-Williams has been a standout performer for the twice Super Rugby champion Waikato Chiefs over the last few seasons. His All Blacks ambitions thwarted by the sheer depth enjoyed by New Zealand in the back three, he decided to play for the country of his heritage after taking the advice of his provincial coach Tana Umaga. Qualification came via the Samoa sevens programme and it was not until July that he made the trip to Suva for his test debut against the All Blacks. That match, which New Zealand won 25-16, pitched him against his LAS VEGAS: , of , holds up her gold medal after defeating Magdalena Mattsson, of , in the 53- cousin Sonny Bill Williams, who may have the edge in kilogram women’s freestyle gold-medal match at the world championships Wednesday, in Las Vegas. — AP stature and power but would probably have to concede he was second best in the family when it came to foot speed. Injury meant Nanai-Williams played only eight Super Japan’s Yoshida wins Rugby matches last season but he managed 18 clean breaks, the 10th highest of any player in the competi- tion. “He’s a very dangerous player,” Jamie Joseph, who coached the Otago Highlanders to the Super Rugby title 16th combined title last season, told the Samoa Observer. “He played at fullback today but he could play any- LAS VEGAS: Japan’s Saori Yoshida won her Ukraine’s Zhan Beleniuk won the 85-kilo- champion Elena Pirozhkova, ranked eighth where really. I’ve been on the wrong end of Tim Nanai- 16th world or Olympic freestyle title gram (187-pound) Greco-Roman title in dom- entering the tournament, was beaten in the Williams as a Super Rugby coach-he’s just a very good Wednesday night at the world wrestling inant fashion. He flipped Uzbekistan’s Rustam second round by Sweden’s Jenny Fransson at rugby player.” Joseph was speaking after taking charge championships. The most decorated athlete Assakalov to the mat for a four-point throw - 69 kilograms. “I just felt great. I’ve had great of the Barbarians for a 27-24 victory over the Samoans in in wrestling history, the 32-year-old Yoshida a move wrestling officials would love to see training. It’s just the little things that kind of at the end of last month. won her 13th title at worlds - to go with three more often - and won 6-0. got away from me throughout the match,” Samoa suffered from being reduced to 14 men after Olympic golds in as many tries - by beating Natalia Vorobeva pinned Feng Zhou of Pirozhkova said. lock Kane Thompson was sent off for punching but the Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson 2-1 at 53 kilograms to win the 69-kilogram (152-pound) Jordan Holm, the final American Greco- match also illustrated that his team mates were not yet (116.5 pounds). crown. Though the American team is tradi- Roman wrestler to compete, scored just a always on the same wavelength as Nanai-Williams. Yoshida rallied after trailing 1-0 after the tionally far better at men’s freestyle than point in his opening-round loss at 85 kilo- “Most of the team are starting to get around him and grams. Today should produce better results first period. She has only lost twice in interna- women’s and Greco-Roman, the hope was hopefully back him up when they need to,” coach tional events, but that didn’t stop her from that the home-mat advantage would help for the Americans. Top-ranked Helen Stephen Betham told the paper. “That’s just his second breaking down after yet another world the U.S. get a head start on the Rio Olympics. Maroulis leads the way at 55 kilograms (121 game but we need to work together as a team. crown. “I was very worried because everyone So far, the worlds have been a borderline pounds), and Adeline Gray enters the 75-kilo- Sometimes Tim will do something out of the ordinary was chasing me,” Yoshida said through a disaster for the Americans. Three days into gram (158.5-pound) tournament ranked first team translator as dozens of Japanese the six-day meet, the US has qualified for as well. Brent Metcalf will open the men’s and if the other players can’t read his body language reporters swarmed around her. “It was a good 2016 Olympic spots in just two of nine freestyle competition - by far the marquee then it won’t come off.” If they can get the best out of one.” Yoshida’s 22-year-old teammate, Erin weights. Alyssa Lampe, a two-time world event in world wrestling - ranked second to the Aucklander, it can only boost Samoa’s chance of Tosaka, won her third consecutive world title medalist, was beaten 10-0 in the 48 kilogram Iran’s Sayed Ahmad Mohammadi at 65 kilo- getting out of their pool, which also includes South at 48 kilogram (105.5 pounds) by beating quarterfinals. grams (143 pounds). But Metcalf looks as if Africa, Scotland, Japan and the United States, and into Mariya Stadnyk of 3-2 on a take- Whitney Conder was defeated in her sec- he’ll have to survive a brutal draw simply to the quarter-finals for the third time. — Reuters down with less than 10 seconds left. ond match at 53 kilograms, and past world reach the final. — AP