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Youngump, allow me to try and answer your question, as you seem honestly interested in an answer. The situation presenting two different penalties is not related to "an officials error" it's related to how, and when, the infraction is discovered.
You might consider that a football game involves more than 22 people often milling about before a play begins. The mechanics designed to deal with this recommends the Referee and Umpire both count the offense team, and confirm their count to each other before each play begins. The wing officials (4 man mechanics) count and confirm the defense.
At the HS level recent rule revision require that all substitutions be completed in a prompt manner which require the replaced player to "immediately" remove himself from the field. Immediately is intentionally left as a flexible term determined by the good judgment and common sense of the field officials. There is no set time for the dead ball period between downs and that interval may differ greatly within a game between teams and situations.
Substitutions occur at any time during the dead ball interval so the time available to count, or recount players varies between plays.
When an official observes more than 11 players in a formation, which would include a replaced player delaying leaving a formation, during the dead ball period that constitutes an illegal substitution (NF: 3.7). That foul would also cover a replaced player leaving a formation who does not manage to exit the field before the play begins, or exits the field improperly.
Illegal participation (NF: 9.6) involves more than 11 people participating in the play.
In general officials try and determine if there is a substitution infraction before EVERY down begins, but because of the conjestion, player movement and time available an exact count is either not completed or completed accurately. The clear objective is to catch any illegal substitution infractions before they develop into illegal participation situations, but that is not always possible.
When the effort fails to uncover the additional personnel on the field, and the player participates in the ensuing play, the proscribed penalty is Illegal Participation, a more severe penalty. The absolute and primary responsibility for having the proper number of players on the field rests entirely on each team.
If possible an official can prevent a team from committing an Illegal participation foul by detecting an illegal substitution situation before the play becomes alive, but if that is not detected, in time, the illegal participation foul prevails.
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