[waltjp]

I did have a similar situation in a game last year. The visiting team came into the game with a 2-1 record and pretty high expectations for the season. The ended up taking a good ol' fashioned butt kicking, losing 39-3. Their coach is pretty well known and can be a hand full at times.

Several times during the game I talked to offensive and defensive linemen about continued action after the pass had been thrown - nothing serious, just some upright wrestling and such.

The visitors have the ball in the third period, trailing by 20 or so and trying desperately to get back into the game. A10 drops back to pass. The pass is away and I observe A65 and B79 continuing their slow dance. I step up and tell them to knock it off. As they separate A65 slaps his opponent in the side of the helmet.

I throw the flag and report the foul as 'illegal use of hands.' For clarification we inform A's coach that his player slapped the defender in the helmet.

Now it starts, "In 35 years of football I've never heard of a blocker head-slapping the defender!" Blah, blah, blah...

Now I like this coach. He gets emotional on the field but he doesn't hold a grudge and is a really nice guy off the field. When I see him next he asks me about the play and I explained what I saw. I asked if he had a chance to look at the file, which he did. I then told him, "Coach, if you saw the film you know I could have called that a punch and ejected your player, right?"

He agreed, but then said he's still never seen called in 35 years of football.