Make a Call

[JasonTX]

This play happened in a game I was in about 15 years ago.  I was referee.  To set the stage the winning team made the playoffs and the other moved on to basketball season.
The score is Team A 27 to Team B 28.

The play:

4th and Goal at the B-1.  A10 receives the hand to hand snap and hands to ball to back A20, who runs right up the middle on the right hash near the L side.  The runner quickly vanished inside of the pile of players.  The H came crashing in from the opposite side and L was frozen and failed to recognize the situation and did not crash in immediately so it looked bad.  It was clear we needed to find the ball because no official ever seen the ball enter the end zone nor did they ever see the runner down.  The H and L began looking for what seemed like an eternity.  It was literally 22 players in one big pile.  One by one the players come off the pile and at the bottom of the pile there was no ball.  A55 gets our attention and he is standing in the end zone with the ball.  No matter what you call you got some explaining to do to one coach.  I'll wait on some replies and will respond with what we did.  Whatcha got? 

[ElvisLives]

“The previous play is under further review.”  Oh, wait.  No replay.  Rats.

Not knowing how he got the ball, and since nobody saw the original BC score, you’d have to rule fumble.  Since it was 4th down, return the ball to the spot of the fumble.  B’s ball.

Ouch.

Robert

[AlUpstateNY]

“The previous play is under further review.”  Oh, wait.  No replay.  Rats.

Not knowing how he got the ball, and since nobody saw the original BC score, you’d have to rule fumble.  Since it was 4th down, return the ball to the spot of the fumble.  B’s ball.

Ouch. Robert

NFHS 8-2-1: ..."Possession of a live ball in the opponent'send zone is always a TD."

[JasonTX]

NFHS 8-2-1: ..."Possession of a live ball in the opponent'send zone is always a TD."

  My game was played using NCAA rules and on 4th down only the fumbler can recover so A55 is not getting a TD.

[Etref]

But, what if it was 3rd down?

[Kalle]

But, what if it was 3rd down?

Then I would have a touchdown in NCAA. Nobody has ruled the ball dead until we see it in the hands of A55 in the end zone.

[ncwingman]

  My game was played using NCAA rules and on 4th down only the fumbler can recover so A55 is not getting a TD.

I was halfway through trying to dig out the options when I read your name, figured you were using NCAA rules and figured the best option is probably what Elvis said.

Under Fed rules, this would be a mess because it could be a TD... but did A55 pick up the *live* ball, or was it dead at the 1 and only squirted into the end zone during the pile up ruckus?

[JasonTX]

Then I would have a touchdown in NCAA. Nobody has ruled the ball dead until we see it in the hands of A55 in the end zone.

Nobody saw a fumble either.

[Etref]

Nobody saw a fumble either.

Exactly!

[ilyazhito]

If nobody saw a fumble, then TD, because the ball is declared dead in A's possession on or beyond the goal line.

[Kalle]

Nobody saw a fumble either.

No, but I have some rules support for ruling a TD (the ball was not declared dead in the field of play), and no matter which way I rule, somebody is going to be very unhappy, and I much rather leave the game knowing that I did what my supervisor wants me to do.

[JasonTX]

Here is what we did.

After the two wings couldn't figure out what they had I asked if I needed to signal TD or first down going the other direction.  So I ended up signalling first down for the other team and the explanation we gave to the coach was that the ball was last seen at the line of scrimmage and we lost sight of it from there.  No official ever seen the ball break the plane of the GL.  He wasn't happy and his argument was we also didn't see the runner down and the ball could have been lost after being in the end zone.  That ruling didn't feel right and I felt like I should have signaled TD as that would have been much easier to explain.

After the game was over we are walking off the field and we see this fan coming toward us.  At first look, considering the direction they were coming from, we assumed it was a fan from the winning team, and he was on a path right toward my L.  The guy had a few choice words to the L from a distance (most of which I agreed with), there were some deputies right there and they were on this guy pretty quickly and slammed him up against a fence and cuffed him up. 

[Etref]

Hard to give a cheap touchdown!