TUSTIN, Calif. -- In a pee-wee version of the NFL's bounty

scandal, the head coach and league president of an Orange County

children's football team have been suspended amid allegations that

players were offered cash to knock opponents out of games.

National Pop Warner officials suspended Darren Crawford of the

Tustin Pee Wee Red Cobras and Tustin president Pat Galentine until

the program can investigate and rule on the allegations, according

to the Orange County Register.

The investigation is expected to take at least several weeks,

Pop Warner spokesman Josh Pruce said.

The Cobras, consisting mainly of 10- and 11-year-olds, advanced

to the Pop Warner Super Bowl last year and finished the season with

a 12-1 record.

A group of parents alleged that during the season, Crawford and

a then-assistant coach, Richard Bowman, offered youngsters cash for

big hits and to knock opposing players out of playoff games.

One boy left a game because of a mild concussion and another

former assistant coach, John Zanelli, claims the player that hit

him was rewarded with cash.

Crawford, Bowman and Galentine consistently have denied that any

cash incentives were paid and Pop Warner's Orange Empire Conference

commissioner, Bobby Espinosa, found no evidence of a bounty program

during a local investigation earlier this year, the Register

reported.

Galentine sent Tustin Pop Warner board members an email Thursday

about the suspensions.

"The singular focus of our board continues to be the safety and

well-being of our kids and the continued success of TPW," he

wrote, urging support for young players who "have been placed in

the crossfire of this issue by no choice of their own."

Former Tustin Pop Warner president Mark Gutierrez was named

acting president during Galentine's absence.

The NFL suspended four players after concluding they were

involved in a pay-for-injury bounty pool that ran for three seasons

from 2009-2011 and offered cash rewards for knocking opposing

players out of games.

The players were reinstated after they successfully appealed the

suspensions. New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was suspended for

the season.