Top > Sport > 2006 > September > 2006-09-15

Backup stabs kicker where it hurts

The relationship between the two teammates competing for the starting punter position at Northern Colorado was typical of a relationship between any two players competing for the same job. Until this week, that is. Rafael Mendoza was stabbed in his right thigh after stepping out from his car Monday night. The attacker was his backup, Mitch Cozad.

Mendoza was treated for the injury and since released from the hospital, but will miss at least the teams` next match, Saturday at Texas State. Cozad on the other hand visited the police, and has since been freed on a $30,000 bond. He faces a charge of second-degree assault. Cozad was also suspended from the university. With Mendoza and Cozad out for Saturday`s match, three other punters will compete for the job in sportsman-like fashion.

"I guess the only identified motive (in the attack on Mendoza) at this point in time is the competition for that position," Evans police Lt. Gary Kessler said. Bears coach Scott Downing wasn`t so sure that athletic competition was the reason one of his punters attacked the other. Cozad and Mendoza, a junior from the Denver suburb of Thornton, were competitive, he said, but no more than players at other positions. "No different than starting quarterback or starting right tackle," he said.