[don't move]

Friday night, 2 point game midway thru 3rd quarter. At mid-field, fullback up the gut, 2 yd gain, pile stops, I see the ball loose, when my U blows his whistle, defense picks up the ball, we are all on our whistles before defender gained possession. I immediately knew we had an IW, (our first in 6 years). I was wearing a mike and liked it up to that point, but I was hoping for battery failure right about then. I announced the IW, we replayed the down, we 'got it right'. I explained to the irate coach that we made a mistake, we have rules to cover the situation, we're moving on. We were roundly bood the rest of the night. After the game, we listened to a state-wide 'scoreboard' show on the radio that gives scores throughout the state, interviews coaches etc. A reporter called in and gave a report on our game. He said "We never recovered after the officials took away a touchdown from us with an inadvertent whistle". Of course there was no touchdown and they wouldn't have scored one even if they recovered the fumble with no IW.

Which all brings me to this: If I had to do over, I don't think I would have announced the IW, I may not have even given the signal (extened fist). If I had said the runner's progress had stopped before the ball came out, some may have disagreed, but we would not have been ostrasized us for admitting an IW.
Your thoughts, please.