MarineOne

You're welcome.

Officials are trained at every level to pick it up within the last two minutes. That being said...officials actually supposed to control the game flow a bit with the ball spotting. The officials have to allow the defense to substitute and match up a bit in high school football because that process is not as closely managed as it is in NCAA football. Normally, the umpire needs to be spotting the ball approximately 7-9 seconds after the previous play was over. If you watch that...you will see that is actually pretty consistent. This allows coaches to get their plays in, players to substitute, and officials to get in proper position to be ready for the next snap. That being said, most officials in Northern Kentucky have been wearing radios for the last few years and will communicate to their crew if the offensive coach on their sideline is going to run a no-huddle offense. They will speed it up in that instance to accommodate, but not for the entire game.

As an official at both levels...I can tell you that this is the closest answer to the proper interpretation. The umpire should not be standing over the ball and holding up the offense in high school football unless the clock was stopped previously (maybe a timeout or penalty administration) and the Referee is just waiting for his crew to get into position...in those scenarios, though, the game clock would not be running. If the previous play ended in bounds and the game clock is still running...the offense can then snap the ball as soon as the umpire is out of the way from spotting it. In the original scenario listed above...the officiating crew would spot the ball as quickly as they could and get out of the way as quickly as they could. The offense could snap the ball once the umpire is out of the way. If the defense is still on the wrong side of the ball, it would be a foul for "Encroachment" ...also commonly known as Offside by the Defense, and the officiating crew would shut the game clock down to administer the penalty yardage. In this exact scenario, the offensive head coach (offended team) would have the option to start the game clock when the center snaps the ball or when the Referee blows the ready for play whistle. If the offense is out of timeouts and needing to score before the end of the half or end of the game...they would choose to start the game clock on the snap. Foul - Encroachment, 5-yard penalty, game clock will start on the snap. Hope this helps!

...now, I'll start with this. I don't have skin in the game here either way with either team. I also am a referee at other levels and reviewed every play of this film for some of the officials on the field. The "holds" that people were screaming for just weren't there. The officiating crew did an outstanding job deciphering what rose to the level of a hold and what was just some hand-fighting between athletes. It's one of the hardest calls to make in football and 99% of the people on the sidelines have no idea what a hold is and what it isn't.

Wow! I'll have to look him up. I have not heard anything about him.

Everyone in this Top 10 list (except for one) is committed to a DI school...not sure about the Top 50. Seems like a lot of the Top 25 are committed to Kentucky, which I find interesting.

My apologies there...wasn't aware of that. I am now!

This is an article that was written on Aug 09, 2018. It outlined who the Herald believed the Top 50 KHSAA football players of 2018 were going to be. Here's the top 10 that they laid out, I've attached the article below for you to review the rest. Now that we're deep into the playoffs...any movers here? Opinions? Highlight Reels? THE TOP 10 1. Wandale Robinson (Western Hills/Sr.) Position: RB/WR Height/weight: 5-8/170 Total points received in polling: 305 2. Stephen Herron (Trinity/Sr.) Position: DE Height/weight: 6-4/235 Total points received in polling: 219 3. Milton Wright (Christian Academy of Louisville/Sr.) Position: WR Height/weight: 6-3/200 Total points received in voting: 193 4. Bryan Hudson (Scott County/Sr.) Position: OL/DL Height/weight: 6-4/292 Total points received in voting: 190 5. Jacob Lacey (South Warren/Sr.) Position: OL/DL Height/weight: 6-2/285 Total points received in voting: 156 6. Tanner Bowles (Glasgow/Sr.) Position: OL/DL Height/weight: 6-5/280 Total points received in polling: 114 7. JJ Weaver (Moore/Sr.) Position: DE/LB/LB Height/weight: 6-6/240 Total points received in polling: 110 8. Vito Tisdale (Bowling Green/Jr.) Position: S/RB Height/weight: 6-1/185 Total points received in polling: 70 9. Michael Mayer (Covington Catholic, Jr.) Position: TE Height/weight: 6-5/240 Total points received in polling: 53 10. Reese Smith (Boyle County, Jr.) Position: WR/DB Height/weight: 5-11/175 Total points received in polling: 39 LINK TO THE ARTICLE

I actually didn’t see that game. There are games every now and then when questions are raised on quality of officiating, but what I said holds true for the majority

It is true that State Championship crews work the semi-finals together and in some cases they will even work the quarterfinals together. These are not "patchwork" crews...these are the top officials from across the state (most are college officials as well) that have no problem working together. They are at the top of their game.

I have seen 7 games this year with 7-man officiating crews. The officiating is superb and the coaches have actually stated that they prefer it. Less is missed and you actually have less flags. This allows officials to focus more and they are not making as many judgement calls based on coming to a play at the last second (pass plays, blocking, etc)

I understand that he's a great player, but sometimes we need to put things into perspective. Jake is listed as a 5'9", 185 lb all around player. Most sites have him pegged as a corner, others a slot receiver, and others have him at RB. I hate to say it, but he will not survive DI football at RB. It would probably be in his best interest to go to a school like John Carroll (DIII) or Mount Union (DIII)...be a star player there, have a chance at a DIII National Championship every year, and also get a great education for his pre-med hopes.

You're absolutely right. I've seen this before, too. There is a rule that makes unnecessary roughness illegal on any play. If it's blatant, there should be a flag.

I don't agree. It's not necessarily listed as "excessive agression"... Here's the rule: "No player or non-player shall execute a blindside block outside of the free-blocking zone with forceful contact unless initiated with open hands." The forceful contact piece is actually meant to draw the rule back a bit and still allow SOME hits that are just good old-fashioned football plays...this rule is aimed at the players that are simply looking to take someone's head off and it's intent is to get cheapshots out of the game altogether. Similar to the targeting rule that has been implemented over the last few years.

Can't see that going anywhere. Their main goal is player safety. They should just switch all states to NCAA rules and teach kids to be safe from the beginning.