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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:20 p.m., Friday, October 31, 2008

Preps: S. Idaho high school football player arrested

The Associated Press

NAMPA, Idaho — A southwest Idaho high school football player accused of punching his coach in the face has been charged with felony aggravated battery.

Kipton Ramos, 18, was arrested Thursday night. He appeared in 3rd District Court on Friday, did not make a plea, and was being held in the Canyon County Jail on $10,000 bond.

Officials said Scott Wooldridge, coach of the Nampa High Bulldogs, tried to break up a fight between Ramos and a player from Emmett High School at the end of Thursday's game.

Nampa School District spokeswoman Allison Westfall said Ramos punched Wooldridge as the coach tried to restrain him.

"There was an altercation between the two teams, and after the coach broke it up he was hit by one of his own players," Westfall told the Idaho Press-Tribune.

Wooldridge was treated and released from a hospital Thursday night. Nampa police Sgt. Joe Ramirez said Wooldridge was punched more than once and had a broken nose and broken bones around his right eye socket.

Westfall, who viewed a video of the incident recorded by a Nampa parent, said a pile of players fell on the ball after Emmett tried an onside kick as the clock ran out in Nampa's 28-16 victory. She said the video showed a Nampa player standing on the field but not involved in the play get hit in the back by an Emmett player, who was not penalized.

"The Nampa players who saw it reacted, and it snowballed," Westfall said, noting the video ended before police say Wooldridge was punched.

Ramos, a running back and defensive end, had been penalized by an official for unsportsmanlike conduct before Wooldridge intervened, said John Billetz, executive director of the Idaho High School Activities Association. The penalty means Ramos was ejected and must also miss the team's next game, Billetz said.

He declined to say what Ramos did to receive the penalty.

"All this kind of took place in the span of one situation," Billetz said. "The ejection, the punching, all this, from what I gathered. It was all one situation."

Westfall said Ramos has been kicked off the team and suspended from school for five days. She said school administrators will decide whether to take further action.

A few of Ramos' teammates attended his court appearance Friday. His next court appearance is Nov. 12.

The Bulldogs, runner-up in the 4A state playoffs last season, begin postseason play next week when they host Jerome.

"We're saddened about this," Billetz said. "But overall we do a really good job with sportsmanship."