Two football players have finally lost their positions after they decided to protest the National Anthem and American flag. Granted, they are high school players on a private school team, but they’ve been booted nonetheless. On Friday, Houston private school Victory & Praise Christian Academy players and cousins, Cedric Ingram-Lewis and Larry McCullough, followed through on their plans to protest during the anthem. Ingram-Lewis raised a fist while McCullough took a knee.

They were immediately told to remove their uniforms and leave the game by their coach Ronnie Mitchum. Mitchum happens to be a former Marine and current pastor.

Mitchem said the pair left him no choice. He thought he had a deal with his players that no one would kneel. He said he supported the pair protesting, but wanted them to do it in other ways – kneeling after a touchdown in the end zone or writing and passing out a paper about the issues.

Mitchem believes the kneeling offends people and veterans who have fought for this country and takes away from the focus on the issues.

“That was my point of view,” Mitchem said. “Like I said, I’m a former Marine. That just doesn’t fly and they knew that. I don’t have any problem with those young men. We’ve had a good relationship. They chose to do that and they had to pay for the consequences.”

One of the players mothers isn’t planning on letting this go.