A referee grabbed a high school football player after his touchdown celebration, and his coach was caught on video yelling ‘he needs to grow up’

Touchdown celebrations draw flags in high school football every week, and the penalty is usually where it ends. A Missouri referee has now been suspended indefinitely after sideline video captured him grabbing a Glendale High School player moments after a score, according to NBC. The same clip picked up the player’s head coach shouting about the contact.

The incident happened Thursday night in Springfield during Glendale’s 35-6 win over rival Kickapoo. After a long touchdown run by senior Joelle Rover, video shot by photographer ShotzByLogan shows the referee grabbing the receiver once he had finished celebrating with a teammate. The two then appear to exchange words in the end zone before going their separate ways.

The footage also captured the reaction from the Glendale sideline, where the head coach could be heard objecting to another official. “He doesn’t need to be touching my player. You talk to me, that’s ridiculous. He needs to grow up,” Frank Tristan said. The referee has not been publicly identified by the Missouri State High School Activities Association, known as MSHSAA, which handed down the suspension.

MSHSAA needed only one sentence to announce the suspension

In its statement, MSHSAA said, “We were made aware of the situation, and the official in question has been suspended indefinitely.” The association did not explain what prompted the referee to put his hands on a player, as the statement stopped there. Its communications director said the official can appeal the decision.

Glendale principal Josh Groves said he attended the game but did not see the contact when it happened. A parent alerted him afterward, and he watched the video the following day. “When we saw [the video], we were surprised and made sure that we communicated with the parents of the student,” Josh Groves said.

Springfield Public Schools, the district that includes both Glendale and Kickapoo, has asked for a closer look. A district spokesperson said officials had “engaged with MSHSAA to ask them to review the situation due to our concern.” However, neither the district nor the association has said whether the referee could face anything beyond the suspension.

What led the referee to grab the senior has not been addressed by MSHSAA or the district. Glendale had reportedly been flagged twice for unsportsmanlike conduct earlier in the game. Under high school rules, excessive celebration is normally handled with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and a second such foul on the same player results in an ejection.

Discipline in high school football has made headlines elsewhere this month. In a separate case, a shove in a postgame handshake line left two teams banned from the playoffs. The Missouri case stands apart, though, as the discipline fell on the official who was working the game.

The clip spread quickly on X, as viewers focused on how the player handled the moment. One user wrote that the referee was “lucky the kid is more mature than him” and praised the senior for not reacting. The same post asked what could have led to the contact in the first place.

The win moved Glendale to 4-3 on the season, while Kickapoo dropped to 1-6. However, the result has drawn less attention than a few seconds of end zone footage, which traveled well beyond Springfield. An indefinite suspension carries no set end date, which leaves the official’s return to MSHSAA games an open question.

The referee could still appeal the decision, and MSHSAA has not said whether its review will produce further findings before Glendale plays its next game.