JustRules

Anderson Prep Academy has cancelled their season and was scheduled to play North Decatur next week. North Decatur is now traveling to Shelbyville that week so I assume New Pal now has an open date or will be looking for a new opponent.

Generally if a team drops back so far they wouldn't be competitive in the class above them, they likely aren't going to contend for a championship at their current level. Especially at anything below 5A there isn't a huge difference from the top of 1 class to the top of another class. It also depends entirely on the sectional they are assigned. The same team could win the sectional of the class above them but struggle to win their sectional just based on the other teams in their region. I think the success factor has been largely successful in mixing up the teams in each class and isn't public/private specific.

The good crews would probably make this same call with the same observation as this crew. Other crews would probably not fully understand the rule. There is judgement involved in many plays. As Bobref pointed out this could have been ruled an unsportsmanlike conduct and the period not extended if they didn't feel the WC players on the field had an influence on the result. If that's their judgement they aren't wrong. Wiser minds can make either argument. But this crew obviously understood this rule and have proven over and over again they are prepared for this type of play. I trust whatever decision they make in this case. Just because a fan doesn't agree with a call doesn't mean they aren't consistency. Unless you fully understand the rules and philosophies which takes years of study and experience many things won't seem consistent. They are actually much more consistent than you realize. We have a wide variety of experience of ability of officials in HS so you will never have full consistency from crew to crew or game to game. They definitely aren't making a decision based on who they want to win. They are basing it on the facts they know and observed at the time. If you think otherwise you do not understand the role of an official.

I would argue it would be controversial regardless of what they called. They call nothing or go with unsportsmanlike conduct and declare the game over others would say they can't believe they let them get away with it. Officials don't care about the controversy side. They go with the information they have at the time and enforce accordingly. They obviously felt these players had an influence on the play. I know this crew well and trust their judgement.

When I work with new officials or experienced officials who need "help" I also tell them to look the release of the block. For the stuff on the edge especially the release is where the hold actually takes place. It's not an absolute but the more I do this and the more I scrutinize my work the more clearly I see things like this both on video and on the field.

I watch enough high school games to know you are telling the truth. Not every official fully understands this the same way so I agree there is wild inconsistency here. Some will see any jersey stretch and flag it. If the jersey is loose that action doesn't take a step away from the official there is no restriction. I've seen a different flavor of category, but they are similar: grab and restrict, hook and restrict, jerk and restrict, take down, tackle, pull over. One other thing that is generally a part of it as well is the blocker is beat. If he's got good feet meaning he's between the defender and the ball he's probably fine. It's when he's beat that you could have a foul. Feet beat cheat is a good axiom. The defensive categories are pull and shoot, preventing next level, and restricting an eligible receiver from running his route before the pass is thrown.

You lie to an AD telling him your crew is unavailable and leave him hanging to try to find a crew at the last minute and then go work another game. How can you have any credibility on the field after that? Some things need very harsh punishments and that is one of them. There were so many other ways the crew could have handled it. I believe the double booking was an accident and he knew about it several months in advance. Even if he forgot about it, find another crew, contact one of the schools and be honest about the mistake, anything other than lying about it. That will only get you in trouble.

We have done swaps before when a school specifically requested us for a game they considered a big game and wanted a crew they knew they could trust. Especially if the location of the game was more convenient we would consider it. But we always found a replacement crew and offered it to the original school. If they weren't interested in the swap for whatever reason we would honor the original contract. Nobody has rejected that. One instance was when we ended up with the same team in back to back weeks due to an opponent change in one of the contracted games. We don't like to do that, but didn't actively seek a replacement. One came up though and we were able to find a replacement crew for the original game. I have heard of two instances where a crew double booked and didn't notify the original home school until the week of the game and left them hanging without a crew. In one instance the IHSAA found about it and suspended the license of the referee for life and the rest of the crew from the post season that year. In the other instance I'm not aware anyone reported them to the IHSAA. I don't have any respect for what those crews did.

Because for regular season games we are hired directly by the home school and not through a centralized state assigning service or something through our associations. I suppose the IHSAA could set an agreed upon fee schedule but I'm not sure how easy that would be to enforce if the state isn't involved with the scheduling or assigning of officials. The tournament fees are set but the IHSAA does that assigning and reimburses the schools for the expense. I know there are some as low as $65 and has high as $100, but for the past couple years we have always been paid $75-$85 for a varsity game. The others I believe are outliers.

It would definitely help with coverage because there are enough crews who could do both Friday and Saturday. But it wouldn't be an ideal situation, and I definitely prefer HS games on Friday night. There are only about 35 Indiana small college officials (D3/NAIA) and several of those don't work full time on a HS crew so that impact is small. The bigger issue is youth and freshman/JV games as well as other personal conflicts. We mainly just need more people interested in doing this! It really is a great avocation and while the abuse/violence issues are a concern, it doesn't happen every game. It's more prevalent at the youth/sub-varsity level where most people are starting, but on Friday nights it's pretty rare. And if it does happen we honestly don't hear it much unless it's someone greeting us as we walk off the field. The biggest untapped market for potential officials...women! I think there are 4-5 licensed female officials in the state of Indiana. There is nothing about officiating that would preclude a woman from doing it as well as a man. There are many male officials who never played HS football. If you have a passion for the game and want to be involved, please consider it no matter your age or gender. Ideally we want younger adults, but someone in their 50s could still work 10-15 years and have a great experience.

As someone who i has been knocked down in the middle many times from a light bump in the side when I didn't expect the hit I can tell you it doesn't take much contact to knock someone off balance if they don't see the contact coming. I've seen many examples of players who use their hands or legally do a shield block and they are just as effective but much less dangerous. And this was even before the BSB rule came into the rules. Most blind side blocks the blocker lines up the defender from a distance and seeks him out. It's usually not a split second decision.

The key is where the focus of the defender is. If they are squared up but the defender is looking to the side he's not going to see the blocker. 99% of the time the blocker knows this which is why he likes to blow them up. If the defender doesn't see the block coming, it doesn't take much contact to take him out of the play. Lead with your hands and you should be fine. I can't comment on this particular play because without video it would just be speculation.

If they want to do something they can shorten the 2nd quarter to 2 minutes or some other length.

Neither have I but I know it exists. It was referenced briefly in a different email sent by our football chair.

That may have been the game that triggered an email from the IHSAA to officials to NOT allow a running clock unless it meets the state's mercy rule. The quarter may be shortened (i.e. 12 minutes to 8 minutes) by no running clock in the first half.

Correct. They get the option to have the clock start on the snap if it would otherwise start on the RFP by rule. But they don't have the other option. They can't choose to have it start on the RFP if by rule it would have started on the snap.

You have the ability to start and stop the clock any time you wish if you feel a team is consuming or conserving time illegally. It's not unlike accidentally stopping the clock when you think there is a turnover and starting it again when you realize the offense still has it. You start the game clock without making the ball ready for play. You could also rely on the God rule to apply what you feel is equitable to address situations not covered specifically in the rules. Several other people said they would use that. The majority definitely felt the offense should not benefit in a time aspect by committing a foul that stops the clock.

Had a discussion with some officials on a very similar play. Absent the foul there is no way A would have been able to snap the ball. They shouldn't get that option because they fouled. I would start the game clock but not make the ball ready for play (U stay over the ball) and let the game clock run out.

Some states do this. Not sure about Illinois. In some cases yes and some cases no. Depends on the state or region. It could be a difficult night physically to try to do both. Exhaustion can lead to poor mechanics and poor judgement so you have to be careful with that. I'll have 5-6 miles of steps for most high school games.

I would argue one of the wings does have a key on the back. There is nothing you have to watch at the snap with as a key because he's not on a defender. But one of the wings will have to keep him in their periphery as the play develops. If it was his key to begin with he needs to watch him once he's in an area with opponents and 5 yards downfield would definitely be his area. The B would be very unlikely to be watching him. Let's say we have a balanced formation. The B has the widest receiver on the LJ side and the LJ has #2 and the back. The H has both receivers on his side. Pay special attention to any of your keys who are pressed but if no one is pressed then watch your T to read run/pass. If you read pass stay with the T for at least a second in case he gets beat off the snap, especially if you are on the R side because he's starting with the opposite T. As the routes develop the wings and BJ go to zone. If the LJ had the back as his key, he should stay with him to this point. If both of the receivers on his side stay in then the H will have to pick him up but he doesn't necessarily know that. If one or of the receivers stay in his focus will probably be there and the back in the middle would go undetected. If both stay in then nobody is deep and the back judge COULD pick up the back in the middle. This all shows the complexity of covering eligible receivers with only a 5-man crew. You have 3 guys watching 5 players and they all have to be on the same page regarding zones and switches. It's not hard once you have experience doing it, but you still may miss something because a different receiver draws your attention even for a second.

NCAA enforcement would be the same, but I believe NFL is different. I believe a dead ball personal foul on 4th down still extends that drive with a first down.

Same assigner from same pool

This was a game at Shortridge, and I believe many of the IPS school games are assigned. The assigner has a group of officials he uses and he puts them on games each week. They aren't set crews, but I'm not sure to what extent he tries to keep people together. Based on what I'm reading here he either had 3 guys not show or was unable to find 3 guys to work it. There was not an APB put out for a crew this week and I understand there were a couple crews not working so there were officials available. They may not have been convenient to this game site though.

The definitions of player, substitute and replaced player are all key to this rule. Do you have any example of where this could happen but not be a foul? When does that substitute become a player?

That's not the NCAA's issue. It's the issue of the professional leagues dumped in the laps of the NCAA. They have been able to leverage it to generate revenue to fund all their other sports which is great. But if you know anyone who actually works for the NCAA you know they are generally under paid compared to what they could make elsewhere. The schools are similar where the football and basketball programs often underwrite the costs for swimming and soccer and lacrosse as those sports generate very little revenue. The Fortnite guy won money because he won a Fortnite tournament. If these players want to make money in their sports go play in Europe or the D-league for basketball. Football is more difficult because there are essentially no options. I understand where allowing players to earn money related to their likeness comes from. I just think it opens up a huge can of worms that will essentially kills college sports in general. Since 95% of college athletes don't play men's basketball or football I would hate for that to happen.