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Coaches resign after H.S. soccer team taunts opposing player with 'Ebola' and racial slurs

A pair of high school soccer coaches resigned Tuesday night as their team is being investigated for taunting a West African player on the opposing team. Players are also facing suspension. The taunts weren't run of the mill trash talk – Northampton, Pa. players yelled "Ebola" throughout an Oct. 9 game, directing the word at Ibraham Tounkaraon, a Nazareth, Pa. player who is originally from Guinea.

According to fans who reported the taunting to local media, some of the players were yelling that they hoped he contracted Ebola. The 16-year-old player's legal guardian, Edward Bachert, told the paper that there were also racial slurs thrown around.

Tounkaraon grew so frustrated that he charged at one of the Northampton players in the final minutes of the game, and was subsequently ejected.

"He was upset on the field, he was upset when I saw him after the game, he was upset when he came home," Bachert told The Morning Call. The boy came to the U.S. three years ago with three siblings, but his parents remain in a small village in Guinea, where Ebola first broke out in December. The virus has since claimed more than 800 lives there, and nearly 9,000 throughout West Africa, and Bachert says the boy is constantly worried about his family.

The game was tied at 1-1 when Tounkaraon was ejected, and Northampton scored the go-ahead goal once Nazareth was playing a man down. That was the regular-season finale for both teams, and only Nazareth moved on to the playoffs. The taunted teen missed that game, though, because he is still distressed, according to his guardian.

His teammates expressed their disgust on Twitter.

The team is now selling wristbands that say "#EndRacism." School administrators immediately investigated, as the behavior is a breach of the school's athletic code of conduct.

"The administration has conducted a thorough investigation throughout the entire day and appropriate discipline will be dispensed to any students who violated the code of conduct," Northampton Area School District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said.

"I am glad Nazareth and Northampton took this incident very seriously and did a very thorough investigation," Bachert said. "I think kids nowadays have to realize that their words can cause a lot of damage and you've got to think before you speak and be careful with what words you choose."

He's hoping Tounkaraon will return to the team for next week's district tournament game.

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Danielle Elliot is the editor of Prep Rally for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at delliot@yahoo-inc.com or follow her on Twitter!

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