16 “that this incident had already been handled by the school,” according to a police report.
The father of Player 2 told Santa Ana police on Feb. “It even has a set of unwritten rules, so to say it doesn’t exist is disingenuous.” “This is a hazing ritual that has a name, a name known by the players,” said Brian L. 25, a player had provided Mater Dei linebackers coach Pat Dubar a cell phone video of the fight, according to a police report. However, nearly two months earlier, on Feb. He added that the interview was the first time he had heard of the Bodies game. Rollinson during the police interview denied hazing existed in the Mater Dei program. Rollinson and Kevin Kiernan, the school’s athletic director, finally agreed to be interviewed by a Santa Ana Police Department investigator with Mater Dei assistant principal for student services Miguel Gutierrez present on April 21, more than two months after the altercation and when the Santa Ana PD first requested information from the school, according to police reports. Mater Dei officials initially declined to cooperate with Santa Ana Police Department investigators, according to police reports. Mater Dei has adopted a slogan for the season – “Red Honor.” The other student, Player 2, continues to play for an undefeated Monarchs team, that is currently ranked No.1 nationally by USA Today and plays Servite for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship on Friday night. The injured student, identified in this report as Player 1, eventually withdrew from Mater Dei and continues to have issues related to his brain injury, according to records and interviews.
#I AM PLAYER GAME SERIES#
He has also posted on social media a series of videos from the midst of Mater Dei pregame drills this season. The coach is not listed on Mater Dei’s website as a member of the school’s coaching staff but is a private coach who has tutored several players who have attended Mater Dei.
“If I had a hundred dollars for every time these kids played Bodies or Slappies, I’d be a millionaire,” Mater Dei head football coach Bruce Rollinson told the injured player’s father the day after the altercation, according to a court filing.ĭuring the same conversation, Rollinson told the parent that he was in a “bind” in terms of disciplining the other player because he said his father was one of the team’s volunteer coaches. The fight would leave the smaller player with a traumatic brain injury, two gashes over his right eye, one over his left and a broken nose that would require surgery, the results of a series of blows to the head that would prompt a Santa Ana Police Department investigator to recommend the Orange County District Attorney’s juvenile division file felony battery charges against the other player, according to a police report reviewed by the Southern California News Group.įour police reports, surgeon’s reports and other medical records, Mater Dei emails, letters, forms, records and memos, as well as court filings, interviews and two videos of the altercation obtained or reviewed by SCNG also raise questions about the culture within one of the nation’s preeminent high school football programs. Mater Dei locker room ritual left bloodied football player with brain injury, broken nose – Orange County Register Close Menu