Triple Header - Part II

JV

I worked Umpire during the JV game and had one game altering call. Late in the fourth quarter the visiting team QB drops back for a pass, scrambles, gets in trouble, and then chucks the ball downfield to number 43 who makes a outstanding, leaping catch in spite of being double teamed. Too bad his team mate, number 76, drifted four yards down field. During pass plays, linemen are restricted from going downfield beyond the expanded neutral zone (i.e., more than 1 yard). Obviously, the coach was not very happy, especially when the final score was 27-22.

Varsity

As mentioned, this was my first varsity White Hat of the 2008 season and overall, my second 11-man game as varsity Referee (excluding the eight-man game earlier this season).

This game was personally important because I was told I am next in-line to become a Crew Chief. This was both a training exercise and an interview of sorts. There was nothing formal about the process, but had I made any major mistakes it would have been reported back to the assigner.

We are required to give teams twenty-five minutes to warm-up between games. The Freshman and JV games ran long, so the varsity game did not start until 8:05. Swell.

Then the Athletic Director informs me tonight was Homecoming and they have arranged for a special coin-flipper this evening. He was very excited that someone paid $1,000 to have the honor of the coin flip. Great. Of course, the AD never introduced me to the person or explained the format of what was supposed to happen. I guess he was too excited. I finally found out who the person was and made it up.

And to top it off the stadium was packed with people. Adding to the pre-game grief was the Head Linesman was a rookie with this being his first Varsity game ever. Great.

But with all these hiccups what I found very odd was I had no anxiety or nerves. I felt comfortable, relaxed and in control. It helped that this game was the battle of the losers. This is not to say it was easy. When you have two evenly matched teams, and the game is close, the calls/no calls become more important.

Twice during the game I waived off my own flag. The first was on a Roughing the Passer. My initial reaction was the defender drove the QB too hard into the ground. It wasn’t so much that he contacted him, because he was already committed, but it was the way he didn’t let-up at all. After a moment of reflection, I decided it was borderline at best and not a foul.

Then, later in the game when the QB was in trouble, I had to make one of those instantaneous fumble/incomplete pass decisions. I ruled fumble and threw a beanbag to mark the spot. Well, actually I threw a flag. Don’t ask I don’t know either. But I waived off my own flag again. I got ribbed about that all the way home.

I called a Roughing the Holder during a Try. The Try was unsuccessful, so they chose the half-the-distance penalty and attempted two-points. They made it.

I called an Illegal Shift when the Tailback and Fullback both shift at the snap. Good thing I remembered this was a live-ball foul.

Otherwise, a fairly routine game. The game ended at 10:30, which I very late for High School, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.

Next post I’ll report on Saturday’s game. Some of my predictions from the previous came true.

Triple Header - Part 1

Friday night 10/10/08

A triple header Friday night on a real grass field reminded me why I love these new synthetic football fields. (We officials affectionately call them ‘plastic’) When these fields were first introduced I expected to have separation anxiety with real grass. There is something nostalgic about the smell of grass, dirty uniforms, and slippery footballs. I really felt it would diminish the game.

But several twisted ankles, sore knees, and having to clean my shoes makes grass seem so last decade. After games on grass fields let’s just skip the post-game beer and go straight to the Advil.

The big news on this Friday night was I worked as Varsity White Hat. I’ll cover this in the next post.

Freshman Game

During this game I worked the Back Judge position which can be pretty boring in a freshman game. My primary responsibilities are pass coverage and punt return, but I also manage the game clock, timeouts, and the twenty-five second play clock.

Two interesting things occurred during this game. First, the visiting team head coach was on crack or something because he was bouncing all over the place. His players all acted like scared little rabbits. The coach shouted the entire game his team was being harmed in some why. “Aiding the runner, he’s aiding the runner”, he kept screaming. No, your defense is getting their ass handed to them, coach. Aiding the Runner is foul by the offense when a teammate of the ball carrier either pushes or pulls the ball carrier. The spirit of the rule is the ball carrier needs to earn the yardage himself.

Another interesting series of events occurred on a kickoff. Following a Touchdown and Extra Point, the teams have one minute to resume play. So, after the extra point, I start my clock, run to the forty yard line and wait for the kicking team. When the minute is up I hand the ball to the kicker, run to the sideline, and raise my hand to let the White Hat know I am ready. When he blows his whistle I start the twenty-five second play clock.

Well, the crackhead coach was taking too long, so I just put the ball on the ground, ran to the sideline, and the White Hat blew the whistle. Twenty-five seconds later, I hit them with a Delay of Game. This is a dead-ball foul, five yards from the previous spot, so now they are kicking from the thirty-five yard line.

During this game the wind was blowing so hard, the ball would not stay on the kicking tee. We stopped the clock three times before one of the members of the kicking team held the ball for the kicker.

When they finally do kick the ball it rolls Out of Bounds (OB) untouched. A Free Kick OB is a live-ball foul with three penalty options. The options are: five yard from previous spot and re-kick, add five yards to the OB spot, or take the ball twenty-five yards in advance of the kicking spot.

The receiving team coach elects for the re-kick. So, crackhead is now kicking from the thirty yard line. The next kick also rolls OB untouched. This kicker had one hell of a leg and would be awesome had the wind not been blowing so hard. But alas, we push them back five more yards to the twenty-five yard line.

And yes, the third kick also went OB. The receiving coach finally elects to take the twenty-five yards in advance of the kicking spot, so he gets the ball at the fifty yard line.

This entire sequence wasted almost seven minutes of the game time. And my Varsity game paid the price.