What a night we had on Wednesday. Despite trying to preventive officiate, by halftime we as a crew had:
* On white, two sideline warnings, the latter of which earned them a five yard walk
* On green, one sideline warning, followed a few plays later by a 15-yard sideline interference
* An aiding the runner call (only the 2nd I've seen in 21 years)
* Three UNS fouls, including one on a green assistant coach
And for the first time, I fired a ball boy. After the green coach picked up the UNS foul, the (kid) ballboy started screaming "Man, these guys are getting paid off by (name of white team)." Since he was just a kid, and not actually part of the team, I told the coach "I don't care what if you keep him on the sideline or not, but he's not touching a football for us the rest of the night."
Had it been a player, or an adult coach or trainer, I'd have popped them for 15, but I wasn't going to punish the players for something a bystander said. I pulled the kid aside at halftime, with a coach present, and told him "You don't attack my integrity on the field. I'd sooner you talk about my dead momma than say I'm being dishonest."
At least the second half went better.
