High School Football Referee Sues Coach for ‘Clotheslining’ Him During Game

A Nashville high school football coach is being sued by a high school football referee in Tennessee for allegedly clotheslining him during a game in August 2022. The incident was captured on camera, and it’s rather interesting.

Hunters Lane and Maplewood were playing in a game that referee Trae Cardwell was officiating. Cardwell fell while sprinting down the sideline of Hunters Lane after a Maplewood punt as he ran past coach William Thomas.

Cardwell was allowed some time to rest before he completed the game’s officiating. The Tennessean reports that Thomas wasn’t removed from the game because authorities decided it was an accident.

While Cardwell was able to complete the game, he claims to have had breathing problems after returning home and was sent to the intensive care unit of the University of Kentucky Medical Center. According to Cardwell’s lawyer Thomas Kerrick, he spent four days in the ICU getting therapy for his trachea More.

Coach Thomas’ company, Metro Nashville, as well as Cardwell were both sued for negligence. In order to assist cover his medical costs and missed wages, he is requesting more than $75,000 in damages. His lawyer claims that he is also seeking damages for “mental suffering.”

Thomas was reported in a letter as saying, “I did not see the linesman coming in my direction and feel very remorseful about this incident as it was never my intention to harm anyone,” via Hunters Lane’s executive principle Susan Kessler.