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From Tracy McFate - Please find below this week's Bulletin from Mike Gautreau. I am also including information concerning communication that came to me from multiple coaches. Whenever a coach requests from the communicating official (HL or LJ) as to what the enforcement of a penalty we MUST comply with that request. A combination of not knowing the enforcements and failing to communicate with the Head Coach will always result in bad news. If a coach asks what the enforcement is we MUST get that information to him even if it means shutting down the action and conferring with the Referee. Under no circumstances should any official ignore the Head Coach when he is requesting enforcement or rules questions. If you are unsure of the rules and there enforcements make it a goal of yours to study them more, during a game however get the correct information to the From Mike Gautreau - Good Afternoon, This week I'd like to present to you a list of "When In Doubts". Believe it or not, there's times we're not 100% sure what just happened during a particular play (no sarcasm necessary). In High School, we obviously only have 5 officials as opposed to the 7 used in the NCAA and the NFL, so we don't have the play covered as adequately as the other levels; (consider how difficult it is to cover everything in a lower-level game officiated by only 3 officials). When things happen too quickly, or when players are in our way and we don't have the proper angle, or when you could argue a call both ways, or if we're just not looking in the proper place at the proper time; all football officials at all levels are trained to "lean" in a certain direction on certain calls. These are pretty consistent between High School, NCAA, and the NFL. You'll notice the philosophy is to make a team "earn" a score and a change of possession. We also constantly stress to our officials that is better to not throw a flag when you're not 100% sure, as opposed to throwing a "phantom flag", so we always err on the side of not throwing the flag (unless it has to do with safety/late hits during the dead ball). When In Doubt: *Call a touchback rather than the ball dead on the one yard line and in. *Call the pass incomplete (forward) instead of calling a fumble (pass backward/lateral). *Call the runner "down" instead of a fumble. (Although if the ball is loose and no one saw the ball carrier down, we have a fumble.) *Call legal use of the hands and not holding. *Call the loose ball accidentally kicked rather than intentionally kicked. *Call the offensive player legally on the line instead of illegal formation. *Call the offensive player legally in the backfield instead of illegal formation. *Call a legal block instead of a block in the back. *Call a legal incomplete pass instead of the QB intentionally grounding the ball. *Call legal contact instead of pass interference. *Call the ball dead in the field of play rather than a touchdown. *Call the ball dead in the field of play rather than a safety. *Call the player inbounds rather than out of bounds. *Call the pass incomplete rather than fumbled when the receiver is hit immediately after catching the pass. *Call the departing player off the field prior to the snap, rather than calling illegal sub. *Don't throw the flag. *Don't blow the whistle. Mechanics: 1. On a play that initiates near the goal line with the offense going in for a potential score: if the run is between the tackles, you'll sometimes see the flank officials withholding their signal and running into the center of the field and then giving a delayed signal. What's occuring is the flank officials can not see the ball carrier due to the 22 players all bunched together. They are looking at the Umpire in the middle of the field, who gives the flank official a pre-determined signal that tells the flank official that he saw the ball carrier in the end zone, or he saw the ball carrier short of the end zone; the flank official then gives the appropriate delayed signal (not the Umpire). 2. After the QB throws a forward pass, the referee's primary responsibility is to protect that QB; that means that there are times when the referee does not see where the pass was thrown. After the play, the other officials will come in and communicate with the referee if they feel the QB intentionally "grounded the ball"; the referee will then determine whether or not the defensive player contacting the QB during the pass caused the ball to be poorly thrown, or if the QB was in control of his pass. If the referee deems the pass to be intentional grounding, he will throw a late flag. In both these cases, it may appear that there is indecisiveness due to the late call, but in both cases, it's merely the mechanics of officiating; the mechanics of how we work the ball game that gives us the best chance of getting the call correct. Good luck this week! Thanks, Mike Additional Resources |
