Moshiner1345

Clinton County soil. You of all people should know how good the land is up there in Clinton County.

Even Three times!

I too am curious what the stance is on this statement. I'm not insinuating that "thrown together" crews would necessarily be sub-par, but they definitely would not have the experience and comfort level with other crew members as established crews would have. In the time of the original post (49 minutes ago) and now, I have seen 2 other e-mails come across. Both mentioned needing week 1 crews. This is a serious issue.

I'm seeing daily emails regarding Friday night games not having a crew for this season. On Eventlink I see 10 games currently without a full crew. Many games with individuals linking-up to officiate for the first time together. Football officiating is very positional, meaning each position has a specific job on the play and a specific place to look. As a white hat myself, I have to trust my crew they are looking in the correct area. Does the group feel it's better to move these games to a different day (Thursday or Saturday) or carry on with thrown together individuals? Thoughts?

In my opinion, pay isn't the only answer to the shortage, but it can be a make or break factor when someone is considering retirement or getting into the business. For me, I can tell you this... with the increase in gas prices recently ($3.85 in my local area), I won't be traveling as much for HS games unless the pay matches the increased direct costs. $75-$80 for a 2.5 hour game, 1.5 hour prior to kick-off arrival, and typically 1-2 hour one-way drive doesn't make financial sense. Couple that with the high likelihood that you're going to get yelled at multiple times by multiple people for perceived or actual mistakes, valuable time away from immediate family, non-reimbursed time for studying, attending meetings/clinics, and improving your craft, and little to no appreciation from others (touches on the advancement piece), you get a shortage and disinterest. Now think about this... Is there a shortage of Divison 1 football officials? I have not heard one. There's people knocking on the door to get hired into division 1 officiating. What is the most obvious difference? Pay comes to my mind. When the pay outweighs the other deterrents, money talks!!!

Todd observed us this year, he was very fair and provided valuable constructive criticism. A true ambassador for high school officiating. He will be missed!!!

Yes, that's why I provided a very lengthy description of what the officials are taught to do (keys at the snap then transitioning of their eyes as the play evolves) and how it related to this specific play. The left guard firing out as a run block (in this specific play) is why this official may have transitioned his eyes to the receiver late, thus missing the grab. It's a foul in my opinion, I was merely trying to provide all readers with an insight as to why this foul may be missed. It's a coverage nightmare given the left tackle fires out as a run blocker. If he retreats to pass block (steps backwards behind the LOS), then the R would pick him up as a blocker and the HL would have transitioned his eyes to the WR much quicker and possibly seen the grab in it's entirety.

Do you want to know how hard HS football 5 person officiating is. This play is 100% a prime example. BJ is keying/responsible for the 2 receivers at the bottom of the screen since this is a trips formation (notice how he is shaded toward those receivers). The wing at the bottom of the screen then would have the 3rd receiver in. But he's keying off the right tackle to read run or pass so he knows whether to keep his focus on that receiver or the blocking of the tackle. The official at the top of the screen is responsible for the receiver at the top of the screen, the RB on his side and the left tackle. He too is keying off the left tackle for run vs pass. This left tackle determines where his eyes need to go next. In this play. The left tackle fires out like a run, you can't see that wing's eyes but his mechanics are then to keep an eye on that tackle for holding (since it looks like a run). It's fuzzy when you can see the top wings head come onto the screen but, it looks like he is looking at the tackle at the time of the grab. The BJ is focused on the opposite side of the field, so he probably doesn't see the grab either. This is just a black hole in 5 person officiating. So when @Bobref says the crew thought the ball was just past the receiver at the time of the grab, the HL eyes got to the receiver about this time in the play and he admits he saw the grab, but the eyes were focused where they were supposed to be focused (the tackle) so when they transitioned to the receiver, the ball was probably just wizzing past the receiver. Here is what the manual says word for word: 6. Initial keys are as follows: a. B has the widest receiver on the strong side of the formation. Note: if players are “stacked” one behind the other, the player closest to the line of scrimmage is considered to be wider. b. The wing official on the strong side of the formation has the inside receiver(s) on that side. c. The wing official on the weak side of the formation has any receivers on that side. d. If the strong side of the formation has three eligible receivers (“trips”), then B takes the two widest receivers on the strong side, and the wing on the strong side takes the inside receiver. e. Wing officials always key on receivers out of the backfield who came from inside the tackles toward them. After the snap, observe your keys and read the near tackle to determine run or pass. Hold the line of scrimmage until the ball carrier crosses it. Watch the initial charge of linemen. Watch blocking on the back side on runs to the opposite side of the field.

I know a lot of discussion has been woven in to a few different threads surrounding the new limit on 3.5 year history of votes only being allow (basically schools you have worked in 2018+) and how that would effect the overall number of votes a crew received this year. I also recall hearing a school has 5 write in votes even if they have not had that crew since 2018. I am a numbers guy, so I am only here to report our crew's facts: We received 44 votes this season. We received 53 votes last season (so down 9 votes). Of those 44 votes, we received 4 write in votes (schools we have not worked for during the regular season or post-season, home or away, in 2018 +) There were 71 schools who were eligible to vote for our crew for this season. These 71 schools we have seen at home or on the road in the regular season or post-season during the 2018 season through when the vote closed for the 2021 season. That means 56.3% of the schools eligible to vote for our crew did cast a vote (40/71). There were 3 schools who voted for us in 2020, but did not vote in 2021 (and were eligible to vote). For the 4 write in votes: School #1: We had worked at home in 2012, 2013, & 2014, however they had not voted for our crew since 2013. We did have their scrimmage in 2020 at home, but I didn't know if scrimmages count towards "working" the school since they don't go on the tournament application. School #2: We have never worked, however they have voted for us in 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, & 2020. But I'm not 100% sure the connection. School #3: We had worked on the road in 2016, however they have never voted for us until this year. Really weird to have this as a write in vote. School #4: We have never worked in the regular season. We did have their scrimmage in 2020, they were the visiting team, but I didn't know if scrimmages count towards "working" the school since they don't go on the tournament application. Again, just reporting facts. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll be as transparent as allowed on a public forum. I have kept the history of our votes since our crew came to fruition back in 2008. Our very first year we received 18 votes. The most we've ever received was in 2019 and we received 68 votes that year.

Anything particular that you are able to share in this public forum?

Interestingly though, did you notice that this year's sectional finals included ZERO crews who worked the state championship last season. It looks like they were capped at 2 rounds in order to advance more "new sided" crews to a sectional championship contest. This opened up 6 spots for those "new crews" to advance. So while we all do have our complaints, little steps are being made in getting more "new crews" deeper into the tournament (albeit 1 more round which = zero more "experience" points). (editorial note: "new crews" for the purpose of this post = crews who have not ever worked a state championship before).

Another possible scenario: there is only 1 wing on the LOS in this scrimmage kick situation. The 1 wing could have had a brain lapse and thought the other side wing was going to blow it dead (if the offsides was on the opposite side), then he realized after the play, there was not an opposite side wing. So he had to come in with the information late prompting the late penalty. Wasn't there, don't know, haven't seen the play. Just showing a gap in the HS 5 person coverage for this play situation

I just read on Twitter that the North Montgomery vs Brebeuf game was moved to Crawfordsville HS tonight. Presumably to avoid the field conditions at North Mont. Thats pure speculation though.

With your comments above it made me think, so I started looking back at our vote sheet (I have tracked our crews votes since the beginning of us becoming a crew back in 2008) and interestingly enough there have only been 2 seasons where an observer's name showed up on our vote sheet: 2016 & 2019. We have been observed at least once every year since 2014. Although, I will say that most of the time the observers show up to a playoff game and voting has closed by that point in the season. I wonder if a playoff observation counts towards advancement consideration since the votes are already calculated by then.

I'm not sure either team was running that as their base offense. I'm also not sure what that has to do with my comment on how the field remained in fair playing condition given the crazy weather throughout the game.