[Rich]

Thursday we had a 48-7 JV game. This school *always* pays us for 5 officials. Consequently, we always try to schedule as many Thursdays there as possible. Total of 6 flags. Probably the fastest game we've ever worked -- we started at 6PM and were done by about 7:30PM. Running clock the entire second half.

Friday we worked a 50-32 slugfest. Our BJ tracks penalties and he ran out of room charting the 13 we had in the first half. I keep meaning to pick up a digital recorder to replace the notepad he carries.

The first penalty was a 15-yard sideline interference on about the third play when our linesman ran into an assistant coach in the restricted area. The only reaction that got from the head coach was an apology to the linesman and a chewing out of the assistant (in the pregame meeting with him, I asked if he had any questions and all he told me was that he expected me to hold his players accountable and that he wouldn't tolerate any bad sportsmanship from his team -- I guess that he holds his assistants acccountable, too). Six of the remaining fouls were encroachment or false starts. We did have 2 horse collar tackles (one of which I flagged as the R -- a runner was held up by the defense and a player on the ground reached up and horse collared him straight back -- I guess I was the only one of the crew to see it, which with the crowd we had around the ball doesn't surprise me) and a hold and a personal foul and an IBB on a punt return, but it didn't *seem* like we had a huge number of fouls until we were reviewing them afterwards. (Looking up, I reported 12 here and can't remember the 13th.)

We had 3 fouls the entire second half. One was encroachment on an extra point, another was encroachment on a scrimmage down. Can't remember the third.

It was humid and muggy all night and I decided to put some water breaks in during the second half (I saw some players trying to work through cramps and I kicked myself for not thinking of it sooner). In the fourth quarter after the second or third water break, the linesman came to me and told me the head coach wanted to personally thank me for including those water breaks. (Can we just follow this coach around week after week?).

Saturday morning we did a varsity reserve on the area's turf field. I *love* working on turf and am thrilled to have 5 lower-level games there this season. Four-man, and I spent most of the game chasing down footballs so I could get them to the umpire. So *that's* what the back judge does much of the game (to be fair, we always have ball boys giving us new footballs on Fridays and yesterday we had long passes with no second football ready, so we had to hustle to get the ball back to be spotted -- no big deal, I got some good exercise). The game ended 6-6 in regulation as the only points scored were on a punt return for a TD and a fumble recovery in the end zone (the ball was snapped on the 1 and promptly fumbled by A). So we got our overtime practice in early (25-yard OT procedure here). 4-and-out for the visitors and the home team punches it in after getting 2 first downs and the weekend is over.