The Tamaqua man who refused to leave a high school football game in 2020 was sentenced to probation Thursday.

Schuylkill County Common Pleas Judge Christina Hale sentenced Thomas Williams III, 41, to 12 months of probation. A jury found him guilty in October of defiant trespass-actual communication to leave school. He was found not guilty of resisting arrest, disorderly conduct/physical offense and harassment.

Tamaqua police charged him with the offenses after a 7:38 p.m. incident Oct. 23, 2020, where he entered the Tamaqua stadium without a facemask.

A district employee told him he could not do so, prompting him to push her aside, police said.

Williams was talking to Walker Township Police Chief Doug Springer when Tamaqua Patrolman Corey Herring and Tamaqua Athletic Director Mike Hromyak approached Williams. Hromyak told Williams he was trespassing and was instructed to go. Williams, who was holding onto the fence, refused to leave.

He ignored commands and resisted arrest, and during a brief struggle, Springer’s left wrist was injured, police said.