[buckrog64]

This is really getting old

By RICK DEINES


There can be no better argument for 1) a rating system for high school referees and 2) more training for game officials and 3) more training for game officials than watching a high school football game. I have watched the last three Marshalltown football games and, you know what? I’m tired of seeing the games screwed up by the officiating.

Not because there is a proactive effort to favor one team or another but because high school referees are apparently there just for the check, so they can send their kids to college. Who trains these guys?

The game against West Des Moines Valley Friday was just the latest in a skein of poorly officiated games. YO! When you stretch an opponent’s jersey out of shape, it is HOLDING! It is not a form of custom tailoring. When you hook the defensive end all night, as happened to Alex Kloberdanz so that he couldn’t get wide to defend the sweep, it is HOLDING! Not dancing with the stars. If there is contact while the pass is in the air, it is INTERFERENCE!
If a team’s captain asks you to watch for holding and blocks in the back, it is not unsportsmanlike conduct. That happened to another area team the other night.

First, the game official told the player the captain was the only one who could talk to the game official.

“I AM a captain,” the player said. “And I am asking, sir, if you will please watch the holding and blocking in the back.”

Yellow flag, 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Another time a coach asked an official if he saw the holding on the previous play. “Are you questioning my integrity?” the referee asked. The coach, not wanting a penalty, just walked away. “Answer my question!” the referee demanded. An assistant coach stepped up and said, “We’re not questioning your integrity, just your eyesight.”

All right, he deserved the 15-yard penalty.

The game crew at Friday’s MHS-Valley game missed holding all night and ignored two obvious — very obvious — blocks in the back on Valley touchdown runs. It is OK to measure for a first down when it is close. It is not OK to move the ball from the spot where it was downed to the hash mark before you measure. If a receiver is running downfield and is pushed in the back while the ball is in the air, it is INTERFERENCE! Or illegal contact. Or something. A two-handed push in the back of a receiver while the ball is in the air is not incidental contact.

If coaches disagree with or question a call, the referee can put a pimple on the school’s sportsmanship rating. No one gets to rate the officials, though. Coaches only get to vote on which officials should work playoff games. There is no system in place to weed out incompetent officials or to reward those who do a good job.

It just sucks to watch a bunch of kids play their hearts out and then have momentum reversed by a bad call. A pass called a reception and fumble Friday should have been ruled an incomplete pass. The call turned the game around psychologically and on the scoreboard.

Schools in the Central Iowa Metro League do not hire their own game officials. They are assigned by the league. Schools cannot avoid officiating teams who may have a conflict with a coach for one reason or another.
It would seem equitable for officials who are from Des Moines to not be assigned to Des Moines schools, including suburbs, when they play outside the metro area. Send DM referees to Mason City, Fort Dodge, Ames, Ottumwa and Indianola or have them officiate games between Des Moines schools. When Des Moines schools play outside the metro area, neutral officials should be assigned.

I am not blaming the officiating for the Bobcat loss to Valley (although an argument could be made). The Tigers are big, fast and deep. However, having to overcome non-calls is a decided disadvantage for the underdog.
It is one thing to let the boys play, it is another to let them play without enforcing the rules.