Lakota West vs. Clayton Northmont

Once again it was on.

High school football is back in full force and our crew had our first game last Friday night. We ventured to Dayton Welcome Stadium to officiate the Lakota West vs. Clayton Northmont game in the Skyline Crosstown Showdown.

When I arrived I was surprised because I could hear cheers and a game going on. I wasn't aware that on Thursday night the Mason vs. Trotwood Madison game was stopped due to the weather. So I got to enjoy watching the end of that game. Mason ended up winning 20-17.

At this point in time on that day the weather was awesome. My oh my how quickly things can change. A few minutes into the game we had to delay the game due to lightening and thunder. Good thing we had the early game, it started at 6p. However, there was a game to be played after ours.

After a half hour delay we were back at it. The teams were playing hard and some intense defense. I had 3-4 flags in the game. Unfortunately, one of them was for a sideline warning. I have a bad feeling that there may be a lot of those this year. I sure hope not.

Northmont almost scored once in the half when they made it into Lakota's red zone. But there was a pass play right in front of me and the ball was deflected and intercepted in the end zone.

The score at halftime was 0-0. We were anticipating a close second half as well. Northmont opened up the scoring with a touchdown in the 3rd quarter to go up 7-0. It looked like it might end up with that score, but with about 5 minutes to go Lakota's linebacker made an awesome play by rushing the quarterback, deflecting his pass backward in the air, ran underneath it, intercepted it inside the 20 yd line and advanced it to the 2 yard line. A few plays later they scored a touchdown. Next was the all important extra point. I was positioned under the uprights ready for it to be kicked but something happened on either the snap or the hold so it was no good. That made the score 7-6 Northmont.

This game came down to the wire. With about 9.5 seconds to Lakota West had the ball trying to get in field goal range. Quarterback dropped back to pass and threw it around the 30-35 yard line. But Northmont intercepted it and ran it back for a touchdown on the last play of the game. Their team swarmed the field and I was doing my best to keep from getting trampled.

What a way to start the season. Great game, great players, and great atmosphere!

Tonight we have Springboro @ Sycamore. Here we go again.

Varsity Football Scrimmage

Friday night was the start of our high school season as we officiated a Varsity football scrimmage.

Both teams looked pretty good on offense and it was nice to get back out there and run the field. The weather was hot, the players were passionate, and I was pumped up chest bumping my fellow refs. Friday night lights are back!

I had a few penalties and some talk to the players about situations.

Hard hits, explosive touchdowns, and what? No screaming coaches or fans at the officials??? Not yet. Soon.

The following day I reffed a few Peewee football games and that went smooth. Some really good young football players.

This Friday is the official start to the season as we officiate in the Skyline Crosstown Showdown. We have Lakota West vs. Northmont and it should be a dandy of a game to kickoff the season!

It's Time!

It has been a different kind of offseason for me this year. Let me just say I'm thankful...

It's that time of the year again. Friday night football starts for me tonight. I've had a little bit of tuning up with some 7 on 7 reffing and already got some Peewee games in.

My adrenaline has been through the roof the past couple of days because we won our co-ed softball championship at work. I know its co-ed but we were still fired up.

Tonight's game is a scrimmage but it involves two good teams. No. 4 nationally ranked Elder at Lakota West. Both of these teams could very well end up in the playoffs.

Let the games begin!

A Few Months

The past few months have been, hmmm, different.

This spring and summer is the first time I've been off from officiating in 2 years. The previous couple of years I had officiated in the Arena Football 2 league but suffered a bad ankle injury in the last game of the year. I took this season off to let it heal.

With that said I haven't been bored by any means. For a few weeks I officiated one of my favorite sports, Flag Football. It was a youth league on Saturday mornings. It was nice as well because the parents were very calm.

I've also officiated some Men's basketball games and some AAU basketball.

For the first time our crew was selected to officiate our tri-state's high school all-star football game in early June. It was a Thursday night and the weather was awesome. Let me say it was a very exciting game.

The halftime score was 10-7, but it was fireworks city in the second half. There were some special rules for this game. Only so many guys could blitz and had to do it a certain way. We also played according to the rules for the upcoming season so two penalties were enforced for horse-collar tackles.

For the most part I felt great out there. Definitely had to shake off some rust. We did have one situation on the goalline that I may have missed. I plan to borrow a tape to see if I missed it and will work on improving so it doesn't happen again.

Next week I start officiating in a 7 on 7 league. This will be a nice tune-up before it's full go in August. Next thing you know it will be time to attend our football meetings.

Down Time

It has been nice to have some time off from the hardcore officiating and spend it with the family. However, I have had a peculiar couple of months. I'll be back shortly to talk some officiating stuff that may peak your interest.