Pulled foot mechanic and timing

[PatF]

My first inclination was to "fix it" and that is what I told my partner we would do. As soon as I said those words to my partner, I realized that the defense had already cleared the field. I then told partner the manager was too late to appeal the play.

I went to the manager and told him that his appeal was too late since the defense had left the field. He did not rant and rave. He calmly stated "this isn't right". He said he wanted to protest my decision. I halted play and got the tournament director involved. I explained what had happened to the TD and that the manager was protesting my decision not to accept his appeal. I also explained that once the defense had left the field, his opportunity to appeal had gone away, by rule. TD agreed and told the manager his protest was denied. Manager didn't like it, but he accepted the decision and he even thanked me for getting the TD involved in the decision. His team was getting pounded and it was just a matter of time before the game would be over anyhow. It never got heated and I never felt there was any need to escalate the situation by throwing coaches.

I felt bad that I blew the call by missing the pulled foot. I felt worse for the team because their manager and coaches hadn't been paying attention to the game and how they were supposed to appeal the call.