Mechanics Question
 

HS Mechanics: Why is it that wing officials are not allowed to report dead ball fouls (ie false start/encroachment) by signaling it to the R? (This may be a South Carolina thing, not positive.)

I personally think it would speed up the game, instead of having to go to the center of the field to report to the R, and then to run back. NCAA/NFL officials do it all the time runnning half way to give the number and are able to run back into position quicker. We also have less officials that the higher levels, especially on Thursday nights (4-man).

Just my two cents.

The linesman comes running in and signals encroachment while you come running in signaling false start. :(

Why does it need to be quicker? Do you have somewhere you need to be? :)

One wing has red, one white ? Now R has to work.

Understand the situation of multiple flags, but what about the 80% of FS/Encroachment fouls where only one flag comes out? The less dead ball time we have, the less "stuff" can happen between players.

Consistency.

Not that much is going to happen. Plus the BJ needs to stay awake anyway.

If there's one flag, our crew uses preliminary signals.

It's expected on Saturdays. We've adopted it for Fridays.

It is likely not allowed because it will confuse high school participants. Not every coach or player is that bright to understand that different officials might have different things and understand why a referee would not give the same signal. ;)

Peace

In GA this year it was written into the manual to allow prelim signals rather than running all the way to the R if only one official has a flag. If multiple flags, we still get together but most of the time it's pretty quick. Have to relay the number anyway if it's the team that's not on my sideline.