An Associated Press dispatch from Friendswood, Texas, October 23, 1997:

Two volunteer coaches are taking a youth football league to court after they were banned for life because their 11- and 12-year-old players couldn't resist playing hard.

After the Sagemont Cowboys destroyed the Friendswood Chiefs 62-0 on Oct. 4, the Bay Area Football League banned twin brothers Roy and Rene Aguilar—whose team has dominated the league for several years.

"They're saying that because we demoralized the other team and that we are teaching the kids unethical practices that we're out for life," Rene Aguilar, the team's assistant coach, said in Wednesday's editions of the Galveston County Daily News.

The league has a rule that prohibits teams from winning by more than 42 points. The Aguilars say they told the team to slow down after building a 42-0 lead, but the players couldn't help scoring again.

The Friendswood Chiefs, named after this Houston suburb, fumbled the ball in their own end zone and Sagemont recovered to increase its lead to 48-0. Rene Aguilar said the coaches tried to tell the players not to recover the fumble.

"That's confusing to them," he said. "One minute we're trying to tell them to play hard, then we're telling them to lay down."

Recovering that fumble, according to a league rule, meant a one-game suspension for the head coach and a $100 fine for the team.

†