OCFOA Weekly Bulletin for the Week ending 10-27
Band do’s and don’t’s- The following is an excerpt from a memo issued by CIF is 2016 regarding school bands playing during a game:
A band can play during a contest, but only during breaks in the action. For example, between plays, during timeouts, between quarters, half-time, and so on. If a band is playing during the game, it is considered unsportsmanlike conduct by the team whose band is playing. The playing of music during the game can be a distraction to the competing teams, and the officials, and can result in placing teams at an advantage or disadvantage as a result.
If the playing of music during game action continues, then the officials have the authority to penalize the offending team 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct, each and every time it happens.
Administrators, please help us by informing your band director of this policy. The full memo was included with the CIF 11 man and 8 man football preview this year. It can be found on page 23. https://cifss.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2019FootballPreview3-2.pdf
Too Many Fouls – There’s no such thing. Do I want you to throw a flag for every violation? Of course not. Holding requires a material restriction that has a material impact on the play. We attempt to clean up a sloppy formation before we flag it. Even those criteria can be broadened in a blowout game.
On the flip side, certain games require the use of our flag to manage them. Teams will often test our limits to see what they can get away with. If we don’t penalize, many times, the offenders will escalate their illegal behavior. This relates to holding, unsporting acts, and dead-ball contact.
We can try to “talk them out of it”, but once we’ve talked, we need to penalize. With some schools and some rivalries, talking is useless. Recognize the type of game you are officiating and modify your philosophy accordingly. An early flag can stop a lot of bad behavior later in the game. We are in the heat of league play and playoff ceding. Now is not the time to keep your flag in your pocket.
CIF Meddling – I’ve addressed this before, but the perception persists that CIF forces our officials to rescind ejections. I’ve been told more than once in the past couple of weeks that an ejection was not imposed because “CIF would just make us rescind it”. It is simply not true.
When a player is ejected, schools will often ask that we review the ejection. The school sends the film in, we (OCFOA) show it to the calling official and ask if they stand by their ejection. If they do, that’s the end of it. If they are unsure after reviewing the film, then they can rescind the ejection.
The bottom line is CIF does not get involved in the decision regarding rescinding ejections.
Intentional Grounding – With the referee committed to protecting the QB and ruling on roughing, it is virtually impossible for the referee to see all of the essential elements of an intentional grounding call. I remind you that it is our mechanics that the flanks, umpire, or even BJ help by either 1) point at an eligible receiver if the receiver was in the area of the incomplete pass, or 2) run to the referee to report that there was no eligible receiver in the area of the incomplete pass. The referee will accept this information and blend it with his own view of the play, and the QB, and judge whether we have intentional grounding or not. Only the referee makes this call!
Reporting Fouls – How are we doing in this area? Referees rely on the crew to be calm, collected and complete when reporting foul information. Many of the “huddles” we see are caused by incomplete or scrambled information being provided to the referee. Clay Reynard PAC 12 FJ has a little trick that helps him calm down prior to starting to report the foul info. Clay will always swing by his flag to buy a little time to calm his heart rate and to collect his thoughts before speaking. Maybe alter the speed of your approach to buy a little time, or pause a moment when you get to the referee before beginning to speak. Don Carey refers to a “cleansing breath” just prior to speaking. Let your heart rate decline just a bit and collect your thoughts…then start.
Full information will include (check with your referee on the preferred order, or develop your own…but be consistent and thorough:
(a) Status of the ball (During the run, pass, kick, run back, live ball/dead ball,etc.)
(b) Foul (Holding)
(c) Team (Offense, Defense, kicking team, return team, etc.)
(d) Number (Number 78)
(e) Spot of foul (At my flag, at the line of scrimmage, etc.)
(f) Result of the play (Complete/incomplete pass, interception, etc.)
(g) Status of the clock (inbounds/out-of-bounds, etc.)
Newer officials, write or print this sequence out and read it before each game until it is part of your routine. Proper foul reporting is critical to proper penalty enforcement.
Rules–
Play: A32 is approaching the opponent’s goal line when he is tackled and fumbles the ball at the B6. The ball goes into the B end zone where B81 bats the ball out of the end zone.
B81’s batting of the ball is illegal (illegal batting). Where do we enforce the penalty?
Answer: Even though we have a fumble, this is not a loose ball play. It is a running play and the enforcement spot is the end of the run. Rule 10-3-3 states: The end of the run is:
- a.Where the ball becomes dead in the runner’s possession.
b. Where the runner loses possession if his run is followed by a loose ball.
c. The spot of the catch or recovery when the momentum rule is in effect.
So “b.” applies here, the enforcement spot is where A32 lost possession, so the foul would be administered from the B6, half the distance to the goal. A 1st and goal from the B3.
Reminder of a rule change from 2018: Penalties for fouls by Team K (other than kick catch interference) on any free or scrimmage kick may be enforced at the previous spot with the down repeated, or; at the succeeding spot when Team K will not be next to
put the ball in play (10-4-2a).
Play: A 4th and 8 from the A35. Prior to the kick A73 pulls B75 to the ground. B81 possesses the kick at the B30 and advances to the B40. The 10yd penalty for holding can be enforced from the previous spot (the A35) where it will be A 4th and 18 or it can be enforced from the succeeding spot (the B40) where it will be B’s ball 1st and 10 from the B50.
Blow the Whistle on Cancer! – OCFOA is more than halfway toward our goal of raising $4000 to donate to the V Foundation. As of this writing, OCFOA officials have donated $2309 to the V Foundation.
The V Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to saving lives by helping to find a cure for cancer. It was started by legendary basketball coach Jim Valvano and to date, the V Foundation has awarded over $225 million in cancer research grants. 100% of direct donations benefit cancer research and programs. Not one single cent of any donation goes to operating expenses. If you’d like to contribute, click on this link http://jimmyv.convio.net/site/TR/DIY/General;jsessionid=00000000.app30122c?pg=team&fr_id=1521&team_id=3280&NONCE_TOKEN=702D1A9DB97B90DA25487D58A655E44E
Coaches and Athletic Directors, if you would like to help us reach our goal we would be very interested in partnering with your ASB to raise funds at the game. An announcement before the game and at halftime regarding what we are attempting to do would be great but not mandatory. The announcement could be as simple as telling your audience what OCFOA is doing and if they want to donate in any amount they can Google “Blow the Whistle on Cancer” and follow the link to the V Foundation website. Feel free to contact me directly at mandews92626@gmail.com if you would like to assist or have any questions or concerns. We will be encouraging donations throughout the month of October.
Mark Andrews
OCFOA Instructional Chairman
