JustRules

What do you do if the ball is snapped at the -10? The BJ has the other goal line. The U is in the middle, and the wings have the entire sideline. This is no different. Everyone is generally working where they are on normal scrimmage kicks. The wings don't have to get to the goal line. They'll coordinate with the B on both the sideline and goal line.

No issues for us Friday night. All of our kicks came down inside the 5 or the end zone. We did have a kick return for a TD. The B was at the goal line with the returner like he always has. The H was trailing about 10 yards when the runner crossed the goal line. Even if he wasn't as fast, he would have still been able to see the sideline to help the B if the runner threatened that sideline. Scoring kicks were fine. We had only XPT and no FGs. The U spotted the ball and hustled back while the R held up the snap until the U was in place. R and U watched the snapper. R transitioned to holder and kicker pretty quickly. Wings crashed as soon as the ball was kicked. We did realize there are situations where you could have a penalty on the kick play and someone other than the U may need to enforce the penalty, especially if lined up for a long FG.

Maybe recreational youth and some high school, but competitive youth and high school flag and college flag are similar to tackle. Some of that is because you'll work more games in a day which is physically taxing. You may be on your feet 4-6 hours, and you have fewer officials covering the field.

College flag is a Spring sport as are many states doing HS flag. It could evolve as recruiting grows and Indiana girls are overlooked because they are playing outside the normal recruiting window.

That old stadium was one of my favorite stadiums to work. So many of the stadiums now are the same, and they had character. The ADA compliance is definitely a good thing, but having seats end zone to end zone was very cool.

That's great to hear and hopefully signs of a successful season .Football is the ultimate team sport though so they'll still need to rely on teammates and the teammates sill need to step up and perfect. When many of the Indy teams are strong, they'll have 5-6 top D1 kids, but 20 others who are good enough to play D2/D3/NAIA. How deep is North?

I love working with new officials, especially those who played and/or coached for many years. They are ALWAYS surprised by how little they knew about the rules. It's also helped me realize how little I know the rules about other sports as well. That's why I love listening to the rules analysts on baseball and basketball games or watching games with my officiating friends. I remember when I learned there is no such thing as an over the back foul or reaching in for basketball. Just another example of how fans get rules knowledge from announcers (so do players and coaches). I always appreciate the coaches who truly know the rules and players who love to ask rules questions.

That's a great approach to take! Getting upset about a bad call or perceived bad call isn't going to change anything. At the high school level, you are going to see wide variety of officiating quality. But everyone on the field is trying to do the best they can. Many perceived bad calls are the result of fans not understanding the rules. And the actual bad calls rarely are the reason for an outcome of a game. It may seem that way especially if they are poorly timed. But every play contributes to the outcome and coaches and players never have perfect games. Many sports including football are imperfect and that includes officials despite their desire to be perfect. Embrace the imperfection.

From when he started to when he left, they got much better. I never said they were better than when Bless was there. The last 3 years of Bless, they didn't have the athletes they did earlier in his career. Haston had them much more competitive his second season and an excellent team their third season. They were on pace for another very good season last year until injuries took their toll.

You are criticizing him because he lost twice to a MIC school (and one of the best programs in the state) and twice to an HCC school whose coach has won state championships at two other schools? He has also improved their non-conference schedule to push the team and it was working. Last year was going to be a very good year until they ran into injuries. I've seen CN many times over the years, and he did an excellent job. Tim Bless was also an excellent coach. CN has nothing to hang their head about. They are an excellent program. They will probably not be able to compete with the top programs in Indy very often so that is not the best litmus test on their ability.

I've known a lot of coaches that moved between many schools in the same state as they progressed but not one that went to many different states. CN improved significantly with Coach Haston. They started strong but struggled down the stretch due to injuries. They seem to have all the athletes in Columbus right now with Columbus East struggling. They will probably never compete with the big boys in Indy, but they can put together a decent 6A team that will compete with most teams.

I was working a flag game once when two defenders were following their receivers on crossing routes. They collided full speed and neither saw it coming. They were able to get up and walk away but were done for the day. I'm guessing one or both ended up with concussions. There are also incidental contact when two players are going for a pass. Contact is definitely much less than tackle football but not enough to not non-existent.

Contact is not allowed in flag football but all flag football players are required to wear mouth guards

You can believe all you want, but the video we have will never be definitive on what that official is looking at. A sideline camera from the other side of the field is not going to provide that. I'm pretty confident this play completely caught him off guard. If nobody has information on how this player got to where he did or where he came from, the result of any conversation will not result in any changes. The coaches absolutely pulled one over on the crew and the defense. It's also very possible this player did not run this play as he was taught. If he had waited until the ball was marked ready for play and then moved toward the sideline (starting inside the numbers), this could possibly have been legal. If he has lined up that deep but facing the defense and a little more on the field of play, this could have possibly been legal. The crew failed in catching this, but if you have ever officiated you would understand you will never see everything. It's physically impossible. You have to call what you see and trust your mechanics and doing the same thing every time will help prevent this. Did the R and U count the offense before the snap? Did they get 10 and wonder where the 11th was? The H doesn't count players so he has no idea if there are 10 or 11 or 12. He has other things to worry about pre-snap as well. But ultimately it's a bad miss, but it could happen to any crew. I guarantee both teams and coaches made many mistakes as well and probably more than the officials. This was not the only play that affected the outcome of the game.

What coaches tell you in pregame and how the play is actually run is very different. The line you quoted from Bobref said the coach shared the player would be inside the numbers at the RFP. Watching the broadcast you can see that was clearly not the case. If he had described it as it happened, he would have said, I'm going to run one of my players toward the sideline as soon as the play is over so nobody sees him. He's going to stop 10 yards behind the LOS and face the sideline as if he's talking to coaches. Coaches on the other side will think he's off the field and not participating. Then at the snap, he's going to turn and take off up the field for a wide open fake punt. We plan to throw him the ball. I wasn't there, but I can guarantee you that's not what he described. Remember Bobref had only seen the Hudl play and talked with the official when he wrote that first comment. The referee likely hadn't seen the broadcast video yet so he was only sharing what the coach had told him. The Hudl video often start until just before the snap so it's not going to help on where the player came from or where he was at the RFP. There is no conspiracy or gotcha moment here. The crew just plain missed it because they didn't see this player until after the ball was snapped. There is nothing more to it.