This photo by Juli Kroon clearly shows Mohollen out of bounds  with one second left on the clock.

Ref's error gets noticed

September 20, 2011

By: Havenstatguys

As long as human beings are referees and umpires they are going to make mistakes. Many times it is simply a judgment call and the officials on the field have to be allowed to make the calls as they see them.  Sometimes, however, it is a call that is simply wrong.  Case in point was last Friday night's game against Marple Newtown.

At the end of the first half Strath Haven was driving down the field after a fumble by Marple Newtown  at the MN 23 yard line with 52 seconds left on the clock.  The Panthers started a combination of drives and time-outs going for the score.  

On what turned out to be the final play of the half, quarterback Mohollen, took the snap at the 6-yard line and kept the ball, running left and running out of bounds.  The clock ticked down to zero and the half was over.  The Haven coaches complained to the officials that there was time left on the clock when Mohollen went out of bounds.  There appeared to be a brief discussion by the refs and the signal given that the half was over.

Had Haven had one more play and IF they had scored they would have gone into the half down 10-7 rather than 10-0.  No one can dispute what that difference may have had on the game.  On the other hand Haven was only able to score one more time in the second half and would have still gone home with a loss.

However, the actual outcome of the game is not the issue for us here at Havenfootball.net.  The issue is that a staff of seasoned, professional officials did not make the effort to make sure that, at the moment the player was out of bounds, at least ONE of the officials should have had the responsibility to glance at the clock.

Game clocks are almost always operated by school employees.  They get just as excited in the moment as the rest of us and a dramatic play like this one at the end of the half in a close game can certainly distract almost anybody.  A one second distraction is certainly understandable.  What is not understandable is how an officiating crew, under these circumstances, would not have conferenced with each other BEFORE the play to make sure that someone was watching the clock.

To be sure this was a great victory for Marple Newtown and they deserve the win and they should be proud of their efforts.  The time keeper may have been caught up in the moment and been a little delayed on the switch.  The officials, on the other hand, should have been in position to call the out-of-bounds correctly AND kept an eye on the clock. Mistakes happen, but this was a mistake that could have been easily avoided.  It is our hope that officials will read this article and be a little more careful next time a similar situation presents itself.  

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