I am not a HS football official so I am not sure but I think the defender could have been called for an illegal use of hands because although he didn't contact or pull the face mask, he put his hand under the face mask. The offensive player was on the margin of committing a face mask penalty because under HS rules pretty much all contact with the face mask is prohibited and incidental contact is a 5 yard penalty but I wouldn't have called it on him because it was the most incidental of incidental contact.
HS officials have a really tough job because it isn't their full time job and they catch a lot of grief from players, coaches, and most frequently parents. They can't look and be everywhere at once so calls are missed. I really appreciated that during the orientation from the AD in Anna's new high school he spent some quality time talking about expected behavior from the players, coaches, AND parents making the point that he works diligently to attract the best officials he can find for the school home games and he doesn't want all of his efforts being undone by poor behavior by anyone at the game.
It is something more high school ADs need to stress and finding good officials is particularly problematic with the pandemic. This year several first year football officials are calling major varsity games in this area and there is a learning curve for everything.
When I was coaching soccer, any official who was trying and exhibiting good intentions was good enough for me. Blaming a lost match on a blown call is just an excuse for the loss, not the major reason. One of my players once complained that the official missed a call when he was fouled in front of the goal which would have been a penalty kick and he blamed the official for our 2-1 loss. I reminded him that he missed 4 makeable shots on goal so if we start falsely blaming people, maybe I should blame him for the loss. That was a good teachable moment for a very capable young man who just needed to get his head on straight 🙂
In my years of shooting various HS sports I have seen a lot of very good officials, a few incredible officials, and only one truly bad head official in football who was missing blatant helmet spears by a player after he was alerted to it by the coaches. After the alert two more players went out with concussions before the responsible player was finally ejected after 6 blatant fouls only one of which was finally called. Given the ease of seeing them and the obvious sound of hard helmet to helmet impact, it was inexcusable behavior. That officiating team was reported to the governing body and one young man will never play sports again because of a neck injury sustained during that game which left him extremely vulnerable to a life changing injury with further contact.
I have always made a point of introducing myself to the officials before events and I make sure to stay out of their way AND I also offer to provide them with photos of themselves in action. It makes for a more pleasant environment for all of us although it does lead to some odd interactions. At a soccer match last week, one of the linesmen apologized because he thought he had gotten in my way. I let him know that it was impossible for an official to get in the way of a photographer because they ALWAYS have the right of way. In 2019, an official was nearing retirement and he kept looking my way when making calls to ensure he had some good photos; it was a little strange but I can honestly say it didn't impact his level of officiating performance and he was one of the most capable and dedicated officials I have worked around.
Rodger
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