[stegenref]

I've had two plays over the last few days where a runner was falling across the goal line. I called touchdown both times, but both times (once a coach and once another official) told me they thought the runner's knee was down before he crossed the goal line. My question is this...as a wing official, how do you watch that situation to see both the ball crossing the goal line and look for the knee hitting the ground?

The first time it happened was in a youth game (11-12 year olds) and the opposing coach went kinda' crazy and I realized I wasn't even looking for the kid's knee to hit the ground, so I was worried I blew the call. Not too worried though since it was 1st and goal from the one yard line in a blow-out game...they probably would've scored anyway since they were scoring at will by that point.

The second time was in a JV game last night and I was fairly confident his knee touched the ground after the ball crossed the line because he didn't even start falling forward until he was within one yard of the goal line and he fell in a pretty "stiff" manner...meaning it seemed like he was trying to keep his knees off the ground as he fell forward.