UNS Rule affects Mass. HS Championship Game

[Reverend30]

Food for thought - remember, MA uses NCAA rules.  4A is a low division.  Haven't seen any video of the play but hunting for it on YouTube

 
Penalty, interception negate Cathedral's chance for win; Blue Hills takes D4A title

By Lorenzo Recupero, Globe Correspondent

WALTHAM -- Sprinting untouched from 56-yards out -- with nothing but green turf between him and the end zone -- Cathedral quarterback Matthew Owens, with the ball tucked in his left arm, raised his clenched right hand to signify a lead-grabbing touchdown with just minutes to go in the Division 4A Super Bowl.

Excitement or unsportsmanlike conduct?

The call was unsportsmanlike conduct. The consequence was a 56-yard, possible game-winning touchdown negated. Instead of an 18-16 Cathedral lead with a little more than six minutes to play, the Panthers were forced to take the ball from the spot of the foul at Blue Hills' 24-yard line. On the next play, a visibly upset Owens threw an interception which all but sealed the win for Blue Hills.

Blue Hills went on to win 16-14.

"In the game being played, we won the game," said Cathedral coach Duane Sigsbury, who couldn’t believe his teams previously undefeated season came down to that one penalty called against Owens. "Give Blue Hills a lot of credit they are a great football team, but we deserve better. The game got taken away from us. If you're going to take a game away from a kid being excited because he just made the play of his life, shame on you."

Blue Hills's John Curran threw a 45-yard TD pass to Isaiah Teixera and Vincent Burton ran for a 1-yard TD in the win.

[Hank]

Without seeing it, it's impossible to say one way or another, so somebody PLEASE find video of this.

Prior to this year, this call could be made without nullifying the touchdown.  Crews I've been on would generally approach a kid who had done something like this and warn him to "act like he'd been there before."  They generally understood and it didn't happen again.  If it did, 15 yds on the PAT or kickoff.  But here, this kid likely had NOT ever been there before.  We can't really expect a 17 or 18 year old to be emotionless can we?

[Rulesman]

Live by NCAA rules; die by NCAA rules.

[chymechowder]

I reaaaallly hope the newspaper story is leaving out some important information. like the kid was doing something else to earn the flag.  because if it truly was just a raised fist, then that is awful.  it's a bad flag in any game. but to throw it during a TD run late in a state championship game is unconscionable to me.

I do mass HS.  the playoff assignments are kinda funny--the people doing a game are from different boards/assignors. it's not uncommon that you dont know any of the 4 other guys on the crew. I wonder if they went over this in pregame.  at any rate, if it was indeed just for the raised fist, that crew should be ashamed. I'm sorry. there's just no excuse for it.

ugh. this really bothers me. it's an example of how some guys just dont get it. and please dont say that the kid put his fate in the officials hands when he raised his own hand.  that's total crap. it's not the kid's fault that some over-officious nut job was assigned to the game.   

gotta find some video..  I hope to see that the kid was in fact doing some serious over the top taunting for the whole stadium to see.  that's the only thing that'll get my blood pressure down.   

[NVFOA_Ump]

Interesting one since simply raising an arm with a clenched fist does not appear in the long and inclusive list of what would warrant a UNS call in the rules or the ARs for 9-2.  Unless some additional action(s) that are actually on "banned list" also occurred it would appear that this was a bit of over-officiating.

[zebra99]

I reaaaallly hope the newspaper story is leaving out some important information. like the kid was doing something else to earn the flag.  because if it truly was just a raised fist, then that is awful.  it's a bad flag in any game. but to throw it during a TD run late in a state championship game is unconscionable to me.

I do mass HS.  the playoff assignments are kinda funny--the people doing a game are from different boards/assignors. it's not uncommon that you dont know any of the 4 other guys on the crew. I wonder if they went over this in pregame.  at any rate, if it was indeed just for the raised fist, that crew should be ashamed. I'm sorry. there's just no excuse for it.

ugh. this really bothers me. it's an example of how some guys just dont get it. and please dont say that the kid put his fate in the officials hands when he raised his own hand.  that's total crap. it's not the kid's fault that some over-officious nut job was assigned to the game.   

gotta find some video..  I hope to see that the kid was in fact doing some serious over the top taunting for the whole stadium to see.  that's the only thing that'll get my blood pressure down. 

Why would you be so worked up and vicious in your attack on these officials based solely on a reporter's article?  Chill and then crank it up if the video proves what the reporter claims. 

[chymechowder]

granted, still photo doesn't prove anything. for all we know, right after this the ballcarrier could've given the finger to the opposing sideline.



and zebra, I agree with you. my invective is purely conditional. IF IF IF the only thing the kid did was what's in this pic, then I stand by my rant.

[110]

If this is all the kid did, then I suspect the assigning protocols for playoffs might need to be re-evaluated, because this is - in my mind - a blown call. Again, "if" being the key term.

[Hank]

A quote from the reporter's story:

"...with the ball tucked in his left arm, raised his clenched right hand to signify a lead-grabbing touchdown with just minutes to go in the Division 4A Super Bowl.

Excitement or unsportsmanlike conduct?

The call was unsportsmanlike conduct. The consequence was a 56-yard, possible game-winning touchdown negated. Instead of an 18-16 Cathedral lead with a little more than six minutes to play...

Blue Hills went on to win 16-14."

It's a bit hard to trust the reporter when:
1)  The picture shows the ball tucked in the right arm.
2)  A raised, clenched LEFT hand.

But more importantly. 

3)  What kind of play was going to change the score from 16 - 14 to 18 - 16.  I'm aware they might do some things differently in MA, but a 4 point TD?

Yeah, all sort of small details.  But the pic shows the raised fist near the 24.  I hope he did more, and he had time to do more.  Likely somewhere around 2.5 seconds.

[TxSkyBolt]

Foul left the ball at the 24 (according to the story) so the infraction must have been deemed to have happened at the 9.  So something else must have happened.  Of course it could have just been this and the official, running full gallop took some reaction time to toss the hankie.

[TXMike]

Speaking of Mass. ...I am watching replays of some of their Championship games.  Do they use 10 min quarters in reg season also?

[NVFOA_Ump]

Period lengths vary by leagues in the regular season.  There are some 10's, 11's, and 12's.  In the playoffs, and superbowl games they are always 10 minutes which is an MIAA rule based on the fact that teams are playing multiple games on short rest (Thanksgiving, then November 22nd [the playoff round], then Dec 2 [the finals round, or superbowls as we refer to them]).

[TXMike]

And you announce fouling player numbers?

[NVFOA_Ump]

And you announce fouling player numbers?

I believe that player numbers were to be included but you'll get a variation of announcements from game to game since R's are not normally miked the regular season, or the first round of the playoffs.  The coordinator of officials gives out the specific announcement instructions just before the games, but sometimes they are not followed to the letter in the heat of battle.

[Hank]

I believe that player numbers were to be included ...

What's the thinking on that?  We're not supposed to announce #s here in TX but every now and then an R messes up and does.  Whenever I called PeeWee, the kids would always ask, on who?  Usually, just so they could yell at the fouler (so I stopped telling them).  Occasionally , the answer was "you" and that kid always slunk off with his mouth shut.

[NVFOA_Ump]

In all games at all levels we are required to report the number of the fouling player to the head coach when he asks - they ask on virtually every foul call.  Not sure why some of the foul announcements during this years MA superbowls included numbers and others didn't, but as noted, during the regular season for high school games we do not announce fouling player numbers unless we are ejecting the player.

[Atlanta Blue]

And you announce fouling player numbers?

Obviously, that's an NCAA rule.  I thought Texas and Massachusetts play by NCAA rules.

Is this an "adjustment"?  What other adjustments are made to NCAA rules in TX and MA?  Obviously, length of quarters is one in MA.

[TXMike]

TX - 12 min qtrs, no 40 sec play clock, no announcement of fouler numbers, fighting ejections do not require subsequent game punishments, KO from 40 are the ones that come to mind imediately

[NVFOA_Ump]

The MA rules are attached.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[TxSkyBolt]

5 times out per half, now that's different.

[Hank]

Obviously, that's an NCAA rule.  I thought Texas and Massachusetts play by NCAA rules.

Is this an "adjustment"?  What other adjustments are made to NCAA rules in TX and MA?  Obviously, length of quarters is one in MA.

Biggest one TXMike sort of left out was that we use 2005 NCAA timing rules.  That's the year before the NCAA messed up all the timing rules.  There are numbering exceptions.  You can have as many people on the sideline as you want.  And during playoffs they suit up even the freshmen sometimes.  The sidelines can get real crowded.

[clearwall]

Looks like this falls into a "time and place" category. As officials, you need to have some kind of feel for the game situation and adjust accordingly. This isnt like the Aledo/Stephenville topic we have going on in another forum where the kid high-stepped in with his team skunking the opponent. You should kind of expect some "youthful exuberance" when a kid makes a big play to win a state title in a close game.

[Curious]

Interesting one since simply raising an arm with a clenched fist does not appear in the long and inclusive list of what would warrant a UNS call in the rules or the ARs for 9-2.  Unless some additional action(s) that are actually on "banned list" also occurred it would appear that this was a bit of over-officiating.

For us "non-NCAA officials", could someone post the "banned list"?

Thanks

[clearwall]

Here are the ones I can remember from memory:

Altered stride
Hand gesture directed at opponent
Diving with no threat
Turning head to yell at opponent
Any gesture that draws attention to self

[TxSkyBolt]

For us "non-NCAA officials", could someone post the "banned list"?

Thanks

Here's a free PDF copy of the current NCAA rules for your desktop. 

http://www.ncaapublications.com/p-4229-2011-2012-football-rule-book-2-year-publication.aspx

Best regards,

Brad