Final Season Game

Earlier in the season I did not even know if I would have a season. In August, I was still working 100 miles from home, never came home until the weekends, and never saw my family. I had planned on dropping High School football. I was kinda ok with this since I worked the CCS Division IV Championship game and have pretty much accomplished all the big ticket items one can do in High School officiating. My wife convinced me attend the required meetings and at least qualify, just in case another job pans out. Which it did. I’m glad I listened to her and stuck it out because this season I once again I worked the CCS Division IV Championship this year and it was a great game.

Carmel was ahead 11-25 at halftime, but by the end of the game they lost the lead 39-32. I never worked a game with this large of a momentum change. Click on this link to read about the game in the local paper.

Clock Problems

One very annoying problem that occurred more than once was the scoreboard went blank several times during the 1st half. The first time we waited 10 minutes trying to get the thing started again.

I actually cannot find anything specifically in the rule book or the mechanics book about the clock when it malfunctions. We always say we will track the time on the field if this occurs, but I don't see the procedure on how this is done. We did track the time on the field.

Rule 1-3-6 (Game Equipment) says “A timing device referred to as “the game clock” or “the clock” shall be provided by the game management. The operator(s) shall be approved by the referee.” There has been many a game where we ‘fired’ the clock operator. (There are several examples of this on the blog.) During this game the issue was with the scoreboard itself and not the operator. Rule 3-4-7 says “The referee shall have the authority to correct obvious errors in timing if discovery is prior to the second live ball following the error, unless the period has officially ended.” Which we did do several times when the clock did come back on-line.

During the last rounds of the playoffs the chain crew is comprised of football officials, so one of them kept the clock on the field. The press box also was also keeping the time, so after the 3^rd time, when the clock came back on-line, it matched the time we had on the field perfectly. It was disappointing this occurred so often and was a momentum killer for the teams.

Defensive Holding

One unusual situation I think I missed was related to defensive holding on the line of scrimmage. The foul is called Illegal Use of the Hands. Typically, the defensive lineman will restrict (otherwise known as holding) the offensive lineman so the linebacker can blitz into the backfield. Can’t do that. That’s not what happened. Untypically, this defensive lineman was typing to hold his opponent on sweeps. The defender was trying to hold the offensive tackle. As umpire, the tackles are not one of my keys to watch, but depending upon the play, such as a sweep, I can change my focus and pick up the tackle and help out. On this particular plays the “hey, that looks funny” light went on. And then the, “did I just see what I thought I saw” bell went off.

The defender had his arms outside the frame of the defender (a clue, but not holding) and was outsized by about 6 inches and 50lbs (a clue – if he’s beat he’ll cheat) and is trying to control the offensive play (another clue). What the heck is going on? So, I ask my self - does this have a bearing on the play? Is the defender trying to get to the ball carrier? If he is, he may “Push, pull or ward off an opponent in an actual attempt to get to the runner or a loose ball…” Rule 2-3-5-b. This play is near the sideline and these two players are near the hash marks. No linebackers to be found. So, who cares since all the action was 10 yards away. Then the defender falls and attempts to grab the offensive player around the ankles. What is this kid thinking?

So, he does a crappy job actually ‘holding’ the guy, but he does (inhibit) slow him down. I’m thinking, this isn’t right, but not at the point of attach, not a ‘take down’ and seems to have no bearing on the play. If the offensive guy was put at a disadvantage, it may have been simply not being able to go downfield to make a block. So, I don’t throw a flag. I see the same action again later in the quarter, but just can’t bring myself to throw a flag in a game where we what ‘make them big’ fouls.

Still bugs me. Let me know what you think.

A Watched Clock Never Runs

Saturday's game took me back to the school where the season started. One thing I failed to mention previously - there is no scoreboard at this college. There are also no bleachers, no press box, no cheerleaders, and no PA system. There is brand new portable game clock everyone seems to be very proud of. Until it stopped working in the 3rd quarter.

This was yet another lopsided game ending 43-28. I mention this because the officials organization I am candidate for wants us to keep games under 3 hours. But with 70+ points scored, and the clock stopped for at least 2 minutes per score, these expectations are bit misplaced. Add the 35 fouls with and average of 30 second clock stoppage per foul and the 'dead' time really adds up. We also had a few injury delays and each team used all their timeouts.

Then the clock stopped running late in the 3rd quarter. We had to stop play three times adding or taking away time before the clock just died. Finally, we ran the time on the field for the remainder of the 3rd. I'm not sure why our White Hat waited so long to this. At the start of the 4th we waited for another 2-3 minutes while the ground crew promised it would be start. It finally did. Again, I don't know why we just didn't start the quarter with the time on the field and adjust the clock when it started early. This whole fiasco burned another 5 minutes.

My performance was on par with my previous games. Once I ran up the wrong sideline following the Try once and on two occasions turned to the wrong sideline to accept a new ball.

I am finding I am not alone with this problem - forgetting which color is offense. I've asked dozens of officials about there experience and they have all said the same thing. It is easy to forget which team is on offense and which direction they are going. For example, on scrimmage kicks, I am constantly have to say to myself "white is going to be stupid". Meaning, if White are the receiving team, they will be the ones doing the blocks in the back or the holding or the 'stupid' stuff. The kickers will often be guilty of personal fouls, but these are easy to catch because they usually are at the end of the play.

I did have any flags this game. The inside was clean and players on both sides were tired and lazy. There was a lot of passing in this game, so the offensive linemen just backed-up and the defenders were too tired to charge hard.

The home team coach complied there were some chop block. What happened was a lineman had fallen to the ground and the center/nose guard tripped over him. Looked really ugly and I don't know how it will look on film, but the act was not deliberate. Just something that happened during the course of the game.

I do think I missed a spearing. This was very late in the 4th quarter at around the 5 yard line. Some kid come in helmet first into the pile so hard hit feet were up in the air. This is an ejectionable act and a big deal. In the 10 milliseconds you have to make a decision, I decided I did not see the entire act. If someone questioned me 'did you see if he was pushed from behind' I could not say yes. There were also the wing and the deep official on that side (we were at the has mark) who had better angles than me, since I was looking inside out. Bottom line is I think we missed a call and I'm sure we will be on the training film next summer.

Overall, I feel I am doing a decent job at this level. I have no real feedback other than White Hat's saying 'good hustle'. I still have a long way to go before I would consider myself a GOOD college umpire. I still have to ask about some of the penalty enforcements (however I do it under the guise of 'confirming'). I should not have to do that.