How does this happen?
Second round playoff game. Not a scrimmage. Not the first game of the season. Twelfth game of the season.
Playoff game at a neutral site. If you are a neutral site and you offer your facility to host a playoff game, then have all the resources needed to conduct a game properly.
So what did we get? We got a play clock operator that HAD NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE. I suppose he tried his best, but it was a mess. Thankfully - THANKFULLY - it was a total blowout of a game, so none of the numerous errors had an impact on the game. But, had it been a one score game, it could got really messy.
When I was told - by the game clock operator - that the PCO was a ‘new guy’ that had never done it before, and that he didn’t even know, I was mortified. You gotta be crappin’ me! This is a 6A host school, that is in mid-season of their schedule? Where is their regular play clock operator? OK, so they are on an ‘off’ week, and maybe he took the opportunity to take a vacation or something. There are a bunch of schools in the area that ain’t playin’ any more this season. Pick up the dang phone and call around and find an experienced guy that can help. Heck, even tell the involved schools that you don’t have a regular play clock operator available, and ask if they want to bring along their operator(s). I know for a fact that one of those schools has an exceptional PCO. Let him run it, for gosh sakes. And guess what? In the playoffs, and with a lot of COVID related cancellations, there are a lot of veteran football officials sittin’ at home that at least know the rules related to the play clock, if not the physical mechanics of operating the clock. Pick up the phone and call the assigner, and request a PCO. Heck, I’ll give him half my game fee.
When we talked to this first time guy, he was a nice guy, and we were polite with him, knowing it wasn’t his fault that this was happening. He knew that he didn’t know play clock rules. All he knew was that sometimes the play clock is 25 seconds, sometimes 40 seconds. So we went through it with him as best we could. Gave him an instruction sheet. Please - pay attention to us and we’ll correct you when needed (which was quite a bit).
How does this happen?