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A 16-year-old girl is in trouble with the law after jumping onto the field during a middle school football game. According to Tennessee teenager Addison Hunnicutt, one of the 13-year-old players on the field was being too rough with her younger brother, and she just couldn’t stop herself from getting out there and defending him.
But after the attack has gone viral online, Addison hasn’t just been banned from every school in the county — she’s also been hit with criminal charges.
The incident took place during a football game last week.
A 16-year-old Tennessee girl has been charged with assault after allegedly running onto the field during a middle school football game and tackling a player following a scuffle pic.twitter.com/wFGuEUpG5X
— Bussin' With The Boys (@BussinWTB) August 19, 2026
A video of the moment Addison was on the field during the game between South Middle School and Cornersville Middle School has gone viral. In the footage, she can be seen running into the field and tackling a player.
Addison told local news outlet NewsChannel5 that she watched a player grab her 13-year-old younger brother’s face mask and shake him around before he allegedly hit him in the ribs, and that’s when she knew she had to do something.
“I wasn’t going after this kid just to go after him. That wasn’t my intention at all,” she said, adding, “Seeing what they were doing to him and no one stopping it, that kind of made me the last choice. Somebody has to stop this.”
Her lawyer doesn’t believe she should face charges for this.
16-year-old Addison Hunnicutt was charged after running onto a Tennessee football field and tackling a 13-year-old player.
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Hunnicutt said she intervened because she believed the player was attacking her younger brother. pic.twitter.com/Yc8IcbVD8J
While Addison’s mom, Elizabeth Chumbley, told the outlet that her she could see that her son was “on the ground being physically attacked by this other player,” she also made it clear to Addison that she did the wrong thing by running onto the field.
“I made sure she understood quickly that her behavior, that was inappropriate, and you should not have jumped over the fence,” she said.
Addison has been charged with assault and disorderly conduct after the incident, and not only has she been banned from all Franklin County School System properties for life, but she’s also banned from any Cornersville athletic events for a year.
She already has a lawyer, David McKenzie, who told NewsChannel5 that the viral video doesn’t tell the whole story. “Could there have been less restrictive measures that were utilized rather than have this poor girl get served with petitions from a juvenile court system? Absolutely,” he said.
The boy’s father has also spoken out.
Brandon Taylor, the father of the 13-year-old boy involved, shared a post about the incident on Facebook.
“I was at the game. I greeted my son afterward, and even in that moment, his first response was, ‘She better be glad she’s a girl.’ That alone says a lot about his character,” Brandon wrote. “He had every reason to be angry, yet he still showed restraint.”
He continued, “My son is a true gentleman, and he did not deserve to be tackled, pushed, or humiliated on the field. He is a 13-year-old child, and I will always stand up for him and protect him.”
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