long snaps

[jjb]

I had a Freshman game last week. I was linesman. Game is 6 -6 late in 4th quarter. 4 & 10 for K. R's line is stacked for a block. From the looks of it , they are going up the middle for the block. The nose guard was fired up before A's huddle broke. I am watching the center and he is looking back at the kicker . (On previous punts he watched the ball sail to the kicker and the R team looked like they were more concerned with runback ) . Anyway, I blow my whistle and indicate officials time out. I trot to the ball and remind the R line that the snapper is protected and keep away from him until he pickes his head up. I know I just prevented a flag because of the expression I saw on the nose guard. I blew the official time out to prevent the injury. If I was wrong for interupting the game to "coach" so be it. If the center would have ended up injured , I would have blamed myself. At Varsity level I would have let the play go . Some R coaches and parents were upset.