Get Ready for Fall 2024
From: "Rich Kollen" - dayofgame@icloud.com
Subject: SCCFOA
Date: Friday, October 20, 2023
Our student-athletes are very fortunate to have excellent, certified, athletic trainers (“ACTs”). Last Friday, at a soccer game, an official suffered a heart attack. El Camino College ACT, Abi Francisco, saved his life. On Saturday night, at the game I attended, two players went down in the end zone after a violent collision. Fortunately, both colleges had former trainers, now administrators, and the on-site trainers sprint in to aid the two student-athletes. We’re blessed to have these kinds of professionals at our level. Make sure to thank them at your games this weekend. Our officials organization now has a YouTube channel. We are posting weekly training videos, tests, and instructional material for officials. If you have not visited the site, please do so this week at https://www.youtube.com/@CFOAFootball
Post scrimmage kick (“PSK”) penalty enforcement is fairly simple, but not always understood. This is my attempt to keep it easy for coaches, fans, and officials. A PSK foul occurs only on fouls by Team B on punts and missed field goals that cross the line of scrimmage, and the foul occurs before the end of the kick with Team B next putting the ball in play (no PSK on successful field goals, tries or in extra periods). (Rule 10-2-3-b) The purpose of the rule is not to give Team A a "cheap" first down by a foul after they have punted the ball away. The foul must occur during the kick (a/k/a after the ball is kicked and before it is caught/recovered). That said, use common sense, and do everything you can to make it a PSK penalty enforcement.
There’s been some confusion when a player’s helmet comes off and he continues to play. This is a personal foul, not an unsportsmanlike foul. (Rule 9-1-17) On the second unsportsmanlike foul, a player must sit out the remainder of that game and possibly the next game, depending on his actions. Therefore, please make sure we enforce any helmet off participation properly as a personal foul.
I had a question from a coach who asked if a defensive player can “reroute” a receiver. Yes, as long as he doesn’t hold him or commit a personal foul on him. A defensive player may legally block an eligible pass receiver until that player occupies the same yard line as the defender or until the opponent could not possibly block him, and provided it is not pass interference. (Rule 9-3-4-e)
There were three officials injured in Friday night’s high school games and were scheduled to work Saturday for SCFA. Scrambling to get these games filled, I was able to give some newer officials an opportunity. During Saturday's games, two officials were injured and couldn't continue. It was a long weekend when we were short five crew officials.
Coaches always dream of plays to trick their opponent. As officials, we must be diligent to recognize these "trick plays.” When I was the Referee, the first thing I would ask a coach during the pregame is whether or not there were any plays about which we should know. Most coaches understand and will run a trick play by the officials. Coaches should understand that officials want to get these plays officiated correctly, and not being surprised helps. If you're not asking this question, now is a good time to start. The information you gather should be shared with the crew before the start of the game. Understand, of course, that many coaches will not share such information, which is also fine. Remember, if it is a trick play, to be legal, it must be strictly legal. No wiggle room on trick plays.
We had a Line Judge throw a flag because the passer was beyond the line of scrimmage. As a reminder, the passer must have his complete body and ball beyond the line of scrimmage. (Rule 7-3-2-a) In this situation, the Line Judge had drifted a few yards downfield, making it tough to see where the passer released the ball. Our standard is unless the player’s entire body and the ball are undoubtedly completely beyond the line of scrimmage, it is not a foul. When in doubt, it is not a foul.
As an official, one of the most embarrassing situations is to have an inadvertent whistle. We are all humans, and we make mistakes. That's why the Rulebook gives us a way to handle an inadvertent whistle. Trying to cover it up by saying it came from somewhere else is unprofessional. Everyone on the crew knows where that whistle came from (as do most of the players, coaches and fans). Admit it, learn from it, and move on. It happens. You gain more credibility by owning up to your mistakes. Speaking of whistles, if a whistle comes from anywhere other than the officials on the field, that will not be ruled an inadvertent whistle, and players must play on! If this happens, game management should attempt to find the whistle, and get it to stop.
A couple of good learning plays were sent in by coaches. The first one was a player called for an illegal blindside block during a running play. Although the hit looked bad, officials must see the entire play before throwing a flag. In this case, it was blindside, but the defensive player used his two hands to shove the player. Therefore, it was a legal blindside block. (Rule 9-1-18) If open hands are used, we deem the action not to be “forcible.” On another play, we had a runner going up the sidelines in a north/south direction. A defensive player contacted the ball carrier with a hard shove, pushing him into the bench area. Understand that it is very difficult for the defensive player to know whether a ball carrier is in bounds or out of bounds. Our standard in the SCFA is: if the ball carrier is running north-south, and not giving himself up, give the defender the benefit of the doubt. This was not a late hit.
This is the time of the season where we must be good dead-ball officials. We use this standard: officiate until the colors separate. That means when we have players going into the opposite team area, officials need to stay there until the players all clear. This is good dead-ball officiating. Escort the opposite color out from the bench.
Good luck this week. As always, thank you for all you do for the student-athletes and this wonderful game.
“If you can raise the level of effort and performance in those around you, you are officially a leader.” – Urban Meyer
Rich Kollen
Director of Football Operations
Subject: SCCFOA
Date: Friday, October 20, 2023
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
2023 WEEKLY BULLETIN #8Our student-athletes are very fortunate to have excellent, certified, athletic trainers (“ACTs”). Last Friday, at a soccer game, an official suffered a heart attack. El Camino College ACT, Abi Francisco, saved his life. On Saturday night, at the game I attended, two players went down in the end zone after a violent collision. Fortunately, both colleges had former trainers, now administrators, and the on-site trainers sprint in to aid the two student-athletes. We’re blessed to have these kinds of professionals at our level. Make sure to thank them at your games this weekend. Our officials organization now has a YouTube channel. We are posting weekly training videos, tests, and instructional material for officials. If you have not visited the site, please do so this week at https://www.youtube.com/@CFOAFootball
Post scrimmage kick (“PSK”) penalty enforcement is fairly simple, but not always understood. This is my attempt to keep it easy for coaches, fans, and officials. A PSK foul occurs only on fouls by Team B on punts and missed field goals that cross the line of scrimmage, and the foul occurs before the end of the kick with Team B next putting the ball in play (no PSK on successful field goals, tries or in extra periods). (Rule 10-2-3-b) The purpose of the rule is not to give Team A a "cheap" first down by a foul after they have punted the ball away. The foul must occur during the kick (a/k/a after the ball is kicked and before it is caught/recovered). That said, use common sense, and do everything you can to make it a PSK penalty enforcement.
There’s been some confusion when a player’s helmet comes off and he continues to play. This is a personal foul, not an unsportsmanlike foul. (Rule 9-1-17) On the second unsportsmanlike foul, a player must sit out the remainder of that game and possibly the next game, depending on his actions. Therefore, please make sure we enforce any helmet off participation properly as a personal foul.
I had a question from a coach who asked if a defensive player can “reroute” a receiver. Yes, as long as he doesn’t hold him or commit a personal foul on him. A defensive player may legally block an eligible pass receiver until that player occupies the same yard line as the defender or until the opponent could not possibly block him, and provided it is not pass interference. (Rule 9-3-4-e)
There were three officials injured in Friday night’s high school games and were scheduled to work Saturday for SCFA. Scrambling to get these games filled, I was able to give some newer officials an opportunity. During Saturday's games, two officials were injured and couldn't continue. It was a long weekend when we were short five crew officials.
Coaches always dream of plays to trick their opponent. As officials, we must be diligent to recognize these "trick plays.” When I was the Referee, the first thing I would ask a coach during the pregame is whether or not there were any plays about which we should know. Most coaches understand and will run a trick play by the officials. Coaches should understand that officials want to get these plays officiated correctly, and not being surprised helps. If you're not asking this question, now is a good time to start. The information you gather should be shared with the crew before the start of the game. Understand, of course, that many coaches will not share such information, which is also fine. Remember, if it is a trick play, to be legal, it must be strictly legal. No wiggle room on trick plays.
We had a Line Judge throw a flag because the passer was beyond the line of scrimmage. As a reminder, the passer must have his complete body and ball beyond the line of scrimmage. (Rule 7-3-2-a) In this situation, the Line Judge had drifted a few yards downfield, making it tough to see where the passer released the ball. Our standard is unless the player’s entire body and the ball are undoubtedly completely beyond the line of scrimmage, it is not a foul. When in doubt, it is not a foul.
As an official, one of the most embarrassing situations is to have an inadvertent whistle. We are all humans, and we make mistakes. That's why the Rulebook gives us a way to handle an inadvertent whistle. Trying to cover it up by saying it came from somewhere else is unprofessional. Everyone on the crew knows where that whistle came from (as do most of the players, coaches and fans). Admit it, learn from it, and move on. It happens. You gain more credibility by owning up to your mistakes. Speaking of whistles, if a whistle comes from anywhere other than the officials on the field, that will not be ruled an inadvertent whistle, and players must play on! If this happens, game management should attempt to find the whistle, and get it to stop.
A couple of good learning plays were sent in by coaches. The first one was a player called for an illegal blindside block during a running play. Although the hit looked bad, officials must see the entire play before throwing a flag. In this case, it was blindside, but the defensive player used his two hands to shove the player. Therefore, it was a legal blindside block. (Rule 9-1-18) If open hands are used, we deem the action not to be “forcible.” On another play, we had a runner going up the sidelines in a north/south direction. A defensive player contacted the ball carrier with a hard shove, pushing him into the bench area. Understand that it is very difficult for the defensive player to know whether a ball carrier is in bounds or out of bounds. Our standard in the SCFA is: if the ball carrier is running north-south, and not giving himself up, give the defender the benefit of the doubt. This was not a late hit.
This is the time of the season where we must be good dead-ball officials. We use this standard: officiate until the colors separate. That means when we have players going into the opposite team area, officials need to stay there until the players all clear. This is good dead-ball officiating. Escort the opposite color out from the bench.
Good luck this week. As always, thank you for all you do for the student-athletes and this wonderful game.
“If you can raise the level of effort and performance in those around you, you are officially a leader.” – Urban Meyer
Rich Kollen
Director of Football Operations