Saturdays-Week 2

Back in the saddle again as I got to ref with my usual crew in a dandy of a football game.

I met up with a few of the guys on the crew not to far from my house a little after 7am. Then we headed about an hour and a half up the road to meet the rest of the guys for some breakfast.

Next we head to the home school as they are about to take on a D3 Nationally ranked Top 10 team. We arrive a little before 10:30am and immediately jump into our pregame.

We start off by watching some situations on dvd and then talk about the new play clock rules (40/25).
We follow this up by going over new rules for this season and a refresher on new rules for 2007. Next we talk about kickoffs and punts. Next we talk about mechanics and positioning on a fake field goal. After this our white hat and umpire head out to go speak with the coaches. We continue to talk about keys and responsibilities on regular scrimmage plays.

Now that we finished we continue to finish getting dressed. At this point our Observer for the game comes in and speaks with us for a little bit. Very nice guy but will give us honest critiquing and feedback which we really appreciate because it is only going to make us better and make it better for everyone. No matter how long you do this you should be able to receive feedback and should want it. Especially when it comes from people that have been there and know what they're talking about.

Time for me and the Side Judge to head to the field. The Head Linesman and Line Judge are already out there. The LJ and myself talk to the ball boys for the home team in detail about their responsibilities and what we expect out of them. Having ball boys that are paying attention and doing their job correctly are very important. They help us keep a nice flow of the game.

There is about 20 minutes to go before kickoff and the teams have headed back into the locker room so we follow suit. 6 minutes before kickoff I gather up the home team captains and we head back to the field for the coin toss. 3 minutes before kickoff and the coin toss is going down! Woohoo! Now 1 minute before kickoff and the 3rd team is in the middle of the field ready to break it out. Let's do this!

As mentioned early the visitors are a Top 10 nationally ranked team but the home team came to play. This game was up and down, up and down. A lot of points scored. A hook an ladder and three stop and go's for touchdowns were some of the highlights.

One thing I like about our crew is that we all get a long, like to work together, and we like to stay away from phantom calls. I'm sure most crews are probably the same way. In this game the teams played hard but had the most penalties in any game we've had so far. Almost 30. It is early in the season and I'm sure the teams will iron this out. I had 2 flags in the game and they were pretty blatant and easy calls to make.

The play of the game was when the score was tied and hardly any time left on the clock in the second quarter and a great defensive play on a long pass right in front of the goal line but the receiver hangs with it and dives into the endzone to make the catch. That put the visitors up by 7. In the second half the visitors started to pull away but the home team made a late surge to make it interesting. In the end a 14 point victory by the visitors.

It was so hot during this game that it was amazing. I don't think any of us were ever as drained after a game as we were for this one. We later found out it got up to 93 degrees. That is hot anytime but in mid-September that is no joke.

Into the locker room we go and they have lunches waiting for us and we were very appreciative. We pack up and back home we go. The next game will be all the guys without me as I will join them in week 4.