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Former Hughson High Football Player Speaks Out Against Sexual Assault Accusations

HUGHSON (CBS13) — Two Hughson High School football players are facing criminal charges, and tonight one of them insists he is innocent.

The 17-year-old and one other teen are accused of battery against a teammate.

The teen doesn't want to be named. he says for weeks he's heard rumors about what happened, including that he sexually assaulted his teammate.

The senior and now-former football player says he wants everyone to know the truth about what happened inside the locker room on edge.

That became the center of a criminal investigation for three weeks.

"We play around like we're brothers we horse around like we're brothers, and that's, that's what was happening was we were playing around," he said.

He claims he and his teammates were horsing around, normal behavior for them, when a student overheard what she thought was something that went too far. School leaders and detectives opened an investigation into the possible sexual assault.

"There was no sexual assault and that's been proven," he said. "I think the people who don't know what actually happened started spreading rumors."

He says it's those rumors that put pressure on district leaders to punish him, another teammate and his coach who resigned on Tuesday.

"It was blown out of proportion, you know? We're not criminals; we're just kids messing around with our teammates," he said. "We've been treated like criminals by our own administration."

He says he and the alleged victim still speak. The case has put many close to the team on the edge and let them wondering what really happened.

While no one is giving exact details about what happened that day, the teen says he wants his community to stop being his judge and jury.

"Just a little mistake; everybody makes bad choices," he said. "This was just a small one that got blown out of proportion."

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