OAKLAND (AP) — An attorney for a high school football player allegedly assaulted by his coach says the coach struck the player with “huge force.”

Wes Littlefield resigned last month as coach at Messalonskee High School in Oakland after being charged with assault. In the days afterward, Littlefield called it a “little incident” that was “blown out of proportion.”

But attorney Walter McKee said he was hired by the 17- year-old player’s family in response to Littlefield’s attempts to minimize the contact.

He tells the Morning Sentinel that the “full force” blow by Littlefield unsnapped three of four buckles on the player’s helmet and turned it around to block his vision.

Littlefield’s attorney says the contact was ordinary in the context of a coach teaching a player, and prosecutors shouldn’t move ahead with the charge.

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