High school soccer player kicks, punches opponent in head in horrifying scene: ‘Ban that kid’

nypost.com ^ | 8/16/26 | Ethan Sears

[Midwesterner53]

A South Dakota high school soccer player went viral for all the wrong reasons, kicking and repeatedly punching his opponent in the head on Friday, resulting in calls for a lifetime ban.

The incident between Rapid City Central’s Jaxson Bergman and Brookings’ Kyle Soost occurred just before halftime of a match on Friday as the two fought for the ball.

Bergman shoved Soost to the ground after the latter got ahead of him, and instead of chasing the ball, attacked Soost. Bergman kicked him in the back of the head, then punched him five times in the head. Caylon Peters, one of Soost’s teammates, then came in and threw some punches at Bergman before the play was broken up. Video at link.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: South Dakota
KEYWORDS: amish; bellcurve; doineedtolook; isitthemagainyogi; isitthemyogi; itsalwaysthem; itsalwaysthembooboo; lowiq; noneed2look; poorimpulsecontrol; sdthug; soccer; themagain; yesbooboo

[Midwesterner53]

Video at link. This is small town South Dakota, not some feral area of a big city. My reaction if I was this attacked players' dad: Demand the high school athletic association ban the attacking kid for life from any SD High School athletic event and press criminal charges after the kick to the head. If neither of those happen, sue the athletic association and the kid's family and put them on the street.

[ClearCase_guy]

“Dad, I hater soccer. I don’t want to play today.”
“Shut up! You’re playing soccer! Go out there and play!”
“Okay.” [I think I know a way out of this mess.]

[T.B. Yoits]

Ban him?

Give him five minutes in the penalty box for fighting, just like hockey.

[V_TWIN]

He shouldn’t have to be banned....if his parents are worth a damn at all THEY will pull him off the team.

That was absolutely ridiculous.

[ronniesgal]

I bet kickers mom will have a press conference sometime soon. Cause baby boy and all that.

[Frank Drebin]

That small teammate launching into the air and sailing towards the punk with the revenge punch…

Legendary.

[know.your.why]

[iontheball]

It’s the devil’s handiwork on display.

[Dr. Sivana]

Yes, he is a scrapper.

Most men's sports have some allowance for physical conflict. Knocking a guy down and kicking him in the back of the head and pounding him while he's on the ground is WAY over the line. Even in hockey, you can fight, but that means both guys drop their sticks.

[thegagline]

Give that boy a pair of skates and a hockey stick. He’s got a career as a 4th liner.

[Dr. Sivana]

Look at the video. Hockey players drop the sticks and fight face to face. This was NOT like hockey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEyj9wV6xQ

[Midwesterner53]

The smallest kid is the biggest hero of the game.

[bigbob]

Zackly. Right moves, wrong sport.

[crusty old prospector]

I thought soccer was a kinder, gentler sport.

[crusty old prospector]

I thought the most popular sport in South Dakota was cow tipping.

[V_TWIN]

I saw more toughness in that clip than I did in all the world cup I watched

[llevrok]

Rugby is a hooligan’s game played by gentlemen.

Soccer is a gentleman’s game played by hooligans

[Uncle Miltie]

South Dakota Yutes have lots more light reflectivity:

Just goes to show: bad behavior is possible in any race, but more prevalent in some.

[sphinx]

Notice the contact before the assault. The team in white had turned over the ball deep in the other end. The team in red was breaking the other way. A forwarding pass down the sideline went wide and the player in white, Bergman, Iintercepted it. He played it a bit too far ahead, however, and the player in red, Soost, darted in to recapture the ball. I would call it a 50-50 ball, but there was contact, enough to knock Bergman down, though he caught himself on his hands and knees.

At that point Soost, who had tapped the ball forward, had a clear advantage and would have had a 1v1 with the keeper.

I am not justifying in the slightest the attack, the punches and the kick to the head, but clearly Bergman thought he had been fouled and snapped. There is no excuse for losing his temper. Ban him. You will see variations of this play multiple times in every soccer game. Soccer is a non-contact game the way basketball is a non-contact game. The rules are a semi-fiction when it comes to contact, and all that can be expected is that the ref be evenhanded, and issue warnings and yellow cards when things start to get chippy.

Note that the score was 2-0 and one team was outshooting the other 7-0. The game could have been a mismatch.There could have been some bullying going on. The ref could have been losing control for some time. There’s a reason that club and travel coaches in many urban areas don’t let their players play high school soccer. There’s too much risk of injury against lower skilled players on mismatched teams getting frustrated and getting too rough. I’ve never seen an outright assault like this in a soccer game, but I have seen hard tackles crossing the line more than once.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Eh, I’d keep him on the team but make him run laps all day everyday.

Then serve water and carry snacks for the team on game days.

Then kick him off.