Flag or no flag?

[Daryl H. Long]

Had a situation in a Varsity game last week that bears discussion. I was line judge on the crew. A's ball, 2nd and 5 from their own 30 yl. Tight end to my side and trips to Linesman's side. Pass goes over the middle to one of the opposite side receivers then cuts back toward linesmans side and runs toward end zone along the inbounds lines. He gets about 5 yards in front of all B players chasing him and then cuts diagonally toward middle of the field. The B players close the gap and just before the goalline the A receiver gives a burst of speed for the TD. About 12 yaards deep in the endzone a B player catches the A player and grabs him and throws him down. At this time the backjudge throws his flag and immediately runs to R to tell him the penalty.

Since I ws LJ my duties on the play were to clean up along my sideline. I managed to officiate on the field and also keep the surge of coaches and others within the team box. I was around the other 30 yl when the TD was scored and as I ran by the coaches they all screamed about thier receiver being thrown to the ground.

I then quickly ran to the 5 yard line where players from Team B had grabbed their teammate who had thrown down the A receiver and were trying to calm him down. The receiver who had scored TD then came to me and asked me why the other official had called an Unsportmanlike foul on him. Of course I was as dumbfounded as the player so I went to R and BJ to get what happened.

The BJ said that the A receiver was penalized for taunting because he slowed down about the 5 YL to let the B player get close then sped away for TD. I asked what about the late takedown by B and the BJ said "I did not see it, I guess next time I need to watch the players longer." Biting my tongue I then said that the flag should be on the 5 YL to which both the R and BJ said that unsportmanlike fouls were dead ball fouls and TD stands. I corrected them and said the foul as reported by the BJ happened during a LIVE ball and that only the administration was as IF it were a dead ball foul. I then asked the R what we were going to do about the late takedown and he said nothing since my flag was not thrown. Too late to penalize that act. He then gave the preliminary signal of the foul and administered the penalty on the try.

Fortunately, the A coach on my sideline was a gentleman when I honestly explained everything to him. In fact, he said, Daryl, why should you have been the one to throw the flag, you were 40 yards away like we were. There were two officials closer to the play and they didn't do their job.

Here are my questions?

1. Should I have thrown my flag immediately when I saw the late hit? Remember, I was 40 yards away, the act was not in my primary coverage area (I was cleaning up behind the play). I know I assumed the BJ had a DB Per foul on B for late hit but should I have ran to the endzone and thrown my flag also?

2. During my conversation with R and BJ once I found out BJ had unsporting foul on A should I have thrown a late flag at that time to penalize what I saw. Does the fact that the R had not given any preliminary signals yet and that it was still during the same DB period have any merit?

3. Is a late flag in this instance better than no flag?

4. If you were the R what would you do?