The Official View: Steps Away, Starts Anew
By
Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
October 29, 2018
By Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
As “Official View” returns this week, we say good-bye and a big thank you to a longtime football official – but only for the fall as he’ll be continuing to serve on basketball courts in southwestern Michigan.
We also consider a few soccer scenarios and explain changes on the way at MHSAA.com designed in part to provide more resources for officials.
It’s Official!
The use of regular bulletins for officials in each sport was rolled out for this past fall season in football, soccer and volleyball. Each of these weekly bulletins provides readers with a few topical items (rules and mechanics) which includes common issues observed, points of emphasis or tips, and hints. It also provides a rules challenge and other tidbits of beneficial information in the specific sport. Full implementation of this tool will be started this winter in basketball, competitive cheer, gymnastics, hockey, swimming and wrestling.
Expect to see some changes in the coming weeks to the Officials page of the MHSAA website. The primary goal of this revamp is to reduce redundancy, separate and organize general officials information from sport-specific information and provide a new resource area for each sport’s officials to receive bulletins, approved rulings and interpretations and to access the new video rules library currently in development. If there are specific things you would like to see included, please let assistant director Brent Rice know.
Rule of the Week
SOCCER During A1’s throw-in, the ball first hits the touchline and then continues immediately out of play.
Ruling: This is a legal throw-in and Team B will be awarded a throw-in at the spot at which the ball left play.
It’s Your Call
SOCCER This week’s clip has the attacker in white and defender in blue racing to retrieve a ball headed near (but just outside) the penalty area. The goalkeeper charges and both he and the attacker attempt to make a play on the ball. What’s the call?
Last Week’s IYC Ruling: Last week we were presented with a prime example of how not to run the “Swinging Gate” formation from scrimmage. The play had a number of potential fouls – let’s run through them (click to see the video):
• Illegal formation – Snapper’s shoulders must be squared to the line of scrimmage.
• Illegal formation – It appears only the snapper is on the line of scrimmage. This leaves 10 in the backfield.
• Illegal shift – While the cluster of players are attempting to get set, the near receiver goes in motion. The ball is snapped without having all 11 set for at least one second.
• False start – The back that receives the snap starts to move before the snap.
Official View: A Step Back
For the last 42 years, Wayne Patterson has roamed the high school gridirons serving as a strong, hardworking and dependable official, crewmate and mentor to young officials. Patterson has decided that after years and years of fall Fridays blocked on the calendar, it’s time to spend more time with his family and allow other officials to take his place.
It’s not a step out though, only a step back. He will continue to officiate both boys and girls basketball in the winter, working alongside his daughter.
In the adjacent photo, Patterson sits with his regular crew for a postgame meal and discussion. The crew took the top photo together during his final career football game, at Sturgis High School. (Top photo, from left: Mitch Reynolds, Pete VanGeisen, Wayne Patterson, Tim Latta and Mike McKenzie).
The Official View: Just the Beginning
By
Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
September 24, 2018
By Brent Rice
MHSAA Assistant Director
This week’s “Official” View features a Legacy official who received a couple of very cool letters of encouragement from some very important people in recognition of his first MHSAA football contest.
Noah Lewis, out of Iron River, plays wingback and cornerback for West Iron County. This past Thursday night he served as a head linesman for a subvarsity game with close monitoring from his dad from the sidelines and the rest of the crew.
However, letters from NFL veterans Ed Hochuli and Bill Carollo also provided him some unexpected sage advice. Hochuli told Noah to “Just relax and have fun,” while Carollo offered to be there for Lewis for guidance or to provide a listening ear.
It’s Official!
Report Writing 101: Officials should be submitting incident reports whenever documenting ejections, unusual situations, or sportsmanship praises or concerns. While we certainly don’t need reports that would challenge Dickens in the writing department (we do get some of these), we do need enough detail that a clear picture is painted of the event for those administrators and directors in the Association office who are not present for the actual incident.
The who, what, where, when, and why of writing all apply. We need to know who is involved (name and number), what occurred leading up to the incident, when it occurred during the contest and why the official took the action he or she did.
Language counts … while we appreciate your discreetness when foul language occurs, please write what was said and done in detail – this includes writing out profanities in the report rather than “#^$*@^~!” or “bleeping.”
As Joe Friday would say, “Just the facts.” We don’t need any fluff or opinion. This means you don’t need to say that the play was close, that you got it right, the day was “blustery” or that “the coach was clearly out of control.” Tell us just the things we need to know to create the setting and what was said and done that led to your action.
Finally, you must complete the report within 48 hours of the end of the contest. Sooner would be better. There is nothing worse than trying to speak to a coach or administrator about an incident when we don’t even have the side of the official(s) yet.
P.S. Run your report through spell and grammar check before submitting if you have the opportunity.
Rule of the Week
CROSS COUNTRY One of the visiting coaches approaches the referee and points out to her where logs have been placed across the course to make it more challenging. This coach objects to these artificial barriers.
Ruling: These artificial barriers on the course must be removed so the course is clear of these obstructions.
It’s Your Call
FOOTBALL This week we look at the enforcement of the blindside block foul in football. It’s 3rd-and-21 on Team A’s 26-yard line. The slot receiver, #8 for white, clearly commits a blindside block in violation of the rules. With forceful contact, he blocks an opponent who does not see the blocker approaching.
One of the keys to look for in this play on the field is offensive players returning back towards the line of scrimmage. The question this week is: What is the down and distance if Team B (a) accepts (b) declines the penalty?
Last Week’s IYC Ruling: The swimmer did not make a legal turn since he took additional strokes after turning toward the breast. While swimmers may turn and independently kick or glide after their head passes the backstroke flags, they may not take any additional arm pulls other than in the actual turning action (8-2-f-1).
The Official View
Here's a closer look at those notes received by Noah Lewis, the aspiring Legacy Program official from Iron River:
