09:39 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 20, 2006

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA-TV

A man coaching a high school football summer league could face charges for unsportsmanlike conduct after he allegedly attacked a referee during a game in Grapevine.

Two teams were playing a game of seven-on-seven touch football when a coach threw a punch after the referee threw a flag.

"He gave me a shove in the chest," said 58-year-old Culley Phillips, a mortgage banker that was serving as the referee for the game. "Then I remember hearing the bells ringing so to speak."

Phillips has been a referee for high school football for 30 years. While he said games can get rough on Friday nights, he said he was surprised at the man's reaction Saturday after he stepped onto the field and said he wanted to talk to Phillips.

"When he was about 10 yards on the field I threw a flag," he said.

Phillips said that was when the man punched him.

"My nose and my lip were bleeding profusely at that time," he said.

Seven-on-seven games are not organized by schools and usually parents run the teams.

It was a parent from Wylie that could go to jail for allegedly attacking the referee.

"I don't want it to happen again," Phillips said. "I don't want somebody sitting on the sideline as an official waiting for someone to come out of the crowd and pop them a good one. You can't officiate that way."

Grapevine police are investigating the incident, but authorities said the man will likely face a Class A misdemeanor assault charge for allegedly hitting the referee.

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com