Instant Replay in HS Championship Games?

[PAUmpire]

In PA most leagues use 6 regular season, and 7 for post season. We dont usually have any hiccups when going to 7. Every playoff official has to go to a 7 man mechanics meeting prior to playoffs.


Having worked deep wing at the HS and College level. I dont want to belittle the position, but it is not the hardest of them to pick up if you apply a ounce of thought to it, and you are a good official to begin with.

[JRutledge]

I disagree that you could just throw someone in those positions. It takes a lot of discipline to work those positions as when you have a play, you have to be ready for it and know what your responsiblities are. That is the reason I think adding more officials could be a problem. I am not saying with the right training you could not work the position, but many newer deep wings have no idea how to move or what to look at if they are used to working a short wing or a back judge.

Peace

[Rich]

Originally Posted by PAUmpire

In PA most leagues use 6 regular season, and 7 for post season. We dont usually have any hiccups when going to 7. Every playoff official has to go to a 7 man mechanics meeting prior to playoffs.


Having worked deep wing at the HS and College level. I dont want to belittle the position, but it is not the hardest of them to pick up if you apply a ounce of thought to it, and you are a good official to begin with.

I've seen a lot of deep wings not do the right things when "thrown in" at the college JV level. Proper ball rotation, keeping a proper cushion, knowing their responsibilities on spots, goal line, etc. Pylon plays. Communication and working well with short wings. Proper punt coverage and reverse mechanics.

I'd been working football for a long time and it took me a while to feel comfortable back there. Now if I'm not working R, I actually like it back there (although I'd rather be a B).

We work 5 in the regular season. Going from 6 to 7 *should* be trivial -- you already have two deep wings. Going from 5 to 7 is a whole different story. Throwing people back there with no experience? They will (trust me) try to step up and get spots instead of keeping the cushion and letting the short wing come downfield and do his job.

[bisonlj]

I generally agree going to 7-man with guys who don't know 7-man mechanics can lead to problems. Someone mentioned to me once that if you did by having the other 5 guys work their mechanics and having the 2 deep wings stay deep/wide would still be better than having only 5 guys. There's some truth to that. They won't worked a perfect 7-man game, but they still may be better than a 5-man crew.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by bisonlj

They won't worked a perfect 7-man game, but they still may be better than a 5-man crew.

Remember, the original question on this thread was about the viability of, "Using Instant Replay in State Championship Games".

Presuming quality officials (for the most part) are selected for post season contests, it seems expanding crews sizes, with appropriate instruction and concentration, offers an effective, practical and available alternative to imposing any level of Instant Reply to the High School game.

[stiffler3492]

Originally Posted by ajmc

Remember, the original question on this thread was about the viability of, "Using Instant Replay in State Championship Games".

Presuming quality officials (for the most part) are selected for post season contests, it seems expanding crews sizes, with appropriate instruction and concentration, offers an effective, practical and available alternative to imposing any level of Instant Reply to the High School game.

Even officials at the highest level of any sport get calls wrong. I don't doubt though that more calls, especially like the one in the video I posted, will be called right on the field if they add more officials.

[ajmc]

Once again, the question relates tp the viability of Instant Replay at the High School Football level..

Although there have been significant improvements in the quality of High School football in recent years, there is no perfection in Coaching, no perfection in actual playing of the game, why would anyone expect absolute perfection in officiating.

On field officiating, with minimal exceptions, has served the game extremely well for a long period of time, and there is precious little evidence to suggest a major revision is necessary, or even widely called for. This seems lile another classic example of, "If it's not broken, don't fix it".

[bisonlj]

Originally Posted by ajmc

Once again, the question relates tp the viability of Instant Replay at the High School Football level..

Although there have been significant improvements in the quality of High School football in recent years, there is no perfection in Coaching, no perfection in actual playing of the game, why would anyone expect absolute perfection in officiating.

On field officiating, with minimal exceptions, has served the game extremely well for a long period of time, and there is precious little evidence to suggest a major revision is necessary, or even widely called for. This seems lile another classic example of, "If it's not broken, don't fix it".

Unfortunately everyone expects the officials to be perfect despite the imperfection of others. A good saying: "officiating, the only avocation where you have to start perfect and then get better".

On field officiating has served the game well, but the use of replay at the higher levels along with the increased use of talk radio and social media, everyone is now an expert. Replay is good, but it creates a higher expectation of perfection.