5 for Varsity in Wisconsin, all the way through the playoffs, too.
3, 4, or 5 for subvarsity depending on the school. I will not take my crew to work 3-man anymore, those days are done. Since we get games directly from the schools at the subvarsity levels, I simply turn down any requests for 3-man. I would go to 6-man in a heartbeat, although my umpire would immediately tell me to find another umpire since he was going to work a deep wing. |
In Louisiana we use 5 for varsity games. Once the playoffs start, we still use 5 except for the "Dome crews", who have 6. All of the state championship games (Dome games) are officiated with 6.
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I don't understand states that expand crew size for the playoffs or the championship game. It has to be difficult to adjust mechanics for 1-3 games after a whole season working one way. If states go from 5 to 6 man crews in the playoffs, at least 2 of the 6 will be working a different position and it will impact all officials' coverage zones.
Why mess with mechanics during the playoffs? How much do the benefits of increased coverage outweigh and difficulty of adjusting the mechanics? |
Major League Baseball does it. You tell me.
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When I worked my first college scrimmage, I had a hard time getting used to reverse mechanics on turnovers, staying at the LOS on passing plays, and goal line coverage once we started getting close to a score. You can pre-game all that stuff but on the field, instincts take over and if you aren't used to it, it will take some getting used to. I'd hate to have to "get used to it" during a state finals game. |
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I only dare speak for the situation in NY, but I suspect the logic is the same elsewhere, although I don't think it makes much sense.
The issue is money. The powers to be recognize that (in NY) utilizing a 5th official for Sectional level games on up, provides a much better level of coverage insuring a better level of competition. I suspect the same is true going from 5 to 6 men, or 6 men to 7. The falicy is in, although recognizing that the added official(s) improves the operation and management of the game, allowing the games that actually decide who will play in the post season contests be managed by smaller crews than are known, and understood, to be less than optimal. Unfortunately, it seems those making crew size decisions don't understand, or more likely refuse to even consider, the reality that adding each official not only provides an additional pair of eyes, at each increment it enhances the abilities of each of the other officials regarding their responsibilities. |
Most of Massachusetts uses 5 man crews, but the Western part of the state still uses 4 man crews. Very tough.
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If you've worked with various numbers of officials and done it long enough, you can adjust, right? If you have enough experience to be getting playoff games, it shouldn't take you too long in a particular game to focus and re-adjust what you have to do in a 6-man game versus a 5-man game or a 5-man versus a 4-man. You just do it. You have to do it.
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W. PA uses 6 for regular season and 7 for playoffs. State playoffs use 7 as well.
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