The evidence is overwhelming on the value of sports for young people, unless of course adults get in the way. That happened last Friday night in Water Valley where two hard-playing football teams saw the game they love taken over by a handful of men in black and white striped shirts.
During my 40 years of playing, coaching, covering, and watching sports, I’ve never been one to yell at officials. I’ve always preferred to ignore them as much as possible, regardless of what calls they make. But I can’t fault anyone from voicing frustration over what I witnessed last Friday night.
The bottom-line statistic from the game was this – Bruce was penalized 165 yards and Water Valley 35. You don’t have to have witnessed a single play of that game to look at those numbers and realize that’s atrocious officiating.
Joel McNeece
The Bruce and Water Valley football teams are almost exact replicas of each other. If they played 10 times, obviously with competent officiating, each team would probably win five times and no game would be decided by more than a touchdown. They’re that evenly matched.
That’s what we were headed toward last Friday night. Everyone there expected the game to come down to the final seconds. In fact, I was standing outside the Bruce Trojan locker room at halftime when Bruce Coach James Ray told his team “nobody is blowing anybody out tonight. This game is going to come down to the last play.” But a funny thing happened on the way to the final buzzer, the officials decided to get more involved.
There’s an old adage when it comes to officiating that a well called game is one when reflecting on the game afterwards you never think of the referees. That’s all anyone could talk about Friday night and well after.
I sensed trouble could be brewing prior to the game when the officials argued with Coach James Ray over game ball use. Because of a slightly damp field, Coach Ray wanted to keep fresh game balls rotating in each play when the Trojan offense was on the field. The officials told him no. “We want to keep this game moving,” I heard the head referee say.
The rough start led to many conversations throughout the game between Coach Ray and the officials over the disturbing trend of one-way calls. During a stretch in which the Trojans received so many flags they were moved from the Water Valley 12 to their own 25 yard line, Coach Ray was ejected. I witnessed nothing from Coach Ray at the time warranting an ejection, but I could say the same for many of the flags that were flying.
Oddly enough, administrative officials from the Mississippi High School Activities Association were on hand for much of the first half. I enjoyed visiting on the sideline with Todd Kelly, MHSAA Director of Development, for much of the second quarter. Unfortunately, they left just prior to half-time and weren’t around for the soon-to-come fiasco.
Officiating all sports is incredibly difficult, particularly football and basketball. I don’t envy their task and understand why it’s difficult for the MHSAA to find competent referees, especially when you get into the lower classifications.
The message that must be conveyed to all of these officials is when in doubt, don’t throw the flag. Try to control the game while staying out of it as much as possible. That doesn’t require great skills, simply good judgement.
Unfortunately, that was sorely lacking last Friday night, and as a result, ticket-buying fans, and more importantly, a lot of young players were cheated out of a good football game that we all could have been talking about for years to come for the right reasons.
Email Joel McNeece at joelmcneece@gmail.com & follow him on Twitter @joelmcneece