A Serra High School football player on the receiving end of a vicious hit during a game against Mount Miguel High School said he believes he was targeted on the play.
"I mean, he caught me off-guard," said Marcos Munoz "He popped me pretty hard."
Munoz was on the punting team and tried making a tackle when he was hit by a blocker.
"I thought I was having a dream at the moment, I didn't know if I was at the game, I was still processing what was happening," Munoz said.
Munoz suffered a concussion, has a sore back and neck and a black eye. Munoz already suffers from a previous head injury.
He said he's not sure why the other player came after him.
"It looked like I was his target at the moment," he said.
The California Interscholastic Federation, a governing board for high school sports, is now looking into the encounter and injury.
Grossmont Union High School District Superintendent Ralf Swenson released a statement Friday:
"We support the decision by the game officials to disqualify the Mount Miguel player for helmet-to-helmet contact.
We also support CIF Commissioner Jerry Schniepp's decision to suspend that player for one game and as Superintendent, I informed Commissioner Schniepp that I am imposing an additional one game suspension so that together we can send a strong message to all football players in our district as well as all schools in San Diego County, that this kind of rule violation is not acceptable."
Munoz said he's amazed by all the support from his fellow classmates.
"I didn't realize I was that loved from so many people," he said. "I'm not the most popular at school; I just have my little group of friends."
Munoz is taking the rest of the season off, but will still be watching from the sidelines and rooting for his teammates.
