SAN DIEGO COUNTY FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION
THE WEEKLY BULL – Sept. 18, 2024
Meeting In-Person at Mira Mesa High School This Week – See you ALL this Wednesday 9/18 at Mira Mesa HS. Agenda: Attendance (check yours for accuracy), Sharing Game Situations, Calibrations, Instructional Video, and Make Up Mechanics & Rules Tests.
Board Meeting This Wednesday – The Board Meeting will take place at 5:15pm in Room 712.
Crew Chief and Instructor Meeting – The regularly scheduled meeting of all Crew Chiefs and Instructors will take place at 6:00pm in room 714.
Mid-Season Form – We now should be hitting mid-season form. Crew organization, communication and mechanics should all be coming together. We are now A CREW! Let’s keep ourselves sharp with weekly rules study, game preparation, and crew goals.
What is Your Weekly Routine? –Some things you can have in your weekly routine are:
Study of a particular rule including case book examples
Read the Weekly Bull and view the Instructional Video
Make a phone call to a crew member or crew chief
Review your dead ball and pre-snap routine
Help evaluate last week’s game video
Establish Crew Goals and Personal Goals
Scout the next week’s teams
Review our philosophies and axioms
Work on your fitness and flexibility
Towels vs Tails – I think we can improve in our monitoring of these “streamers” or “tails”. Towels must be a minimum of 4” in width. Let’s clean this up this week. Flanks and umpire, have something with you that is 4” in width so we can do quick checks before the game. Thank you.
Knee Pads – They sure are making small knee pads these days. As long as they are unaltered from the manufacturer’s original design, they will be legal. Thank you for continuing to work with coaches by sending out players that are not wearing the proper equipment in a legal manner.
Set the Standard for Your Sideline During Introductions – It is recommended that the flanks go together to meet with the head coaches. The LJ will introduce himself then introduced the HL to his HC. Somewhere during this quick conversation you will want to confirm with your head coach that “the play callers (OC and DC?) will be calling plays from a location off the field, right?” By phrasing it in this manner the HC must answer in the affirmative. Only once did I have a coach ask, “Well how far can we come on the field then?” I answered, “None, we’ll all be staying behind the sideline.” Get this agreement and you will all be on the same page when we begin the game.
12 In the Huddle – A replaced player has up to 3 seconds to begin to leave the field after being notified that he’s being replaced. That slight delay may allow the team to legally have 12 players on the field, even in the huddle area for a few seconds. Crews are responsible for counting on every player and to accurately monitor the substitution process. Coaches sometimes need a bit more of an explanation as they confuse high school rules with college rules sometimes.
Substitution vs Illegal Participation – I find it helpful to study these two rules at the same time. Kevin Haws taught this to me. We’re always learning. Attached are the two charts from the Case Book which will provide you with a summary of the two rules to review in your rules study this week.
Ball Relays – Remember on long incomplete passes, when there is no ball person, the crew needs to train the players to run the ball back into the umpire, or the flanks need to get involved in the relay from the BJ to the umpire. Our goal is to have the umpire staying at the succeeding spot and the ball comes to him/her. The referee is observing all of the dead ball action, the crew, and the chains/down box while preparing for the next play.
Support for the Flanks in Side Zones and Out of Bounds – As a flank official, I find it extremely critical that Back Judges, Umpires and Referees are all ending up with their vision at, or around, the dead ball area in the side zone or out of bounds. I watched a play in the Bishops game where the Umpire sees a doubleteam block go out of bounds and continue towards the track. The LJ is busy with progress and contact on the QB but the Umpire was there to penalize this late action in support! Watch your video this week and see how you’re doing!
When May the Offense Designate the Spot? – There are six (6) situations where the offense may designate the spot from which the ball is put in play anywhere between the hash marks: 1) For a try; 2) For a kickoff; 3) Following a safety; 4) Following a fair catch or an awarded fair catch; 5) Following a touchback and 6) For the start of each series using an overtime procedure.
Cross-Field Mechanics – Because we’re rounding into mid-season form, our cross-field mechanics should now be quite sophisticated and accurate. Take pride in this important mechanic! You are a team!
Drones – No drones in the stadium. So far, I haven’t had any reports of drones. Great job!
Keep Your Mouth Shut – “You can’t quote silence.” – Andy Castagnola. Please continue to be careful with any/all comments. Do not make comments to innocent spectators who might turn out to be the coach’s wife or a school administrator. Be extremely careful and professional when addressing players. What you think is an innocent comment can be reported as offensive or threatening. Keep all comments to yourself or save them for the locker room.
Keeping the Restricted Area Clear – We seem to be doing reasonably well with this thankless task. Our focus is on the field, but for safety reasons, the restricted area needs to be clear at the start of the play. So far so good! One thing to keep in mind is that it is the same for both sides. We are on the same crew, so do your crewmates a favor and do the same work for both teams.
Injury Time Out – Team personnel will be allowed to attend to any injured players and team support staff will be allowed to bring water to the team. Coaches must either be attending to the injured player or at the sideline (outside numbers) to address team or provide substitutes. No coaches will be allowed to confer with the team inside the numbers. And as always, the referee will decide if the teams can go to the sideline and the flanks will have their teams back and ready for the next snap immediately after the injured player is off the field. Tempo!
Crew Evaluations – We are now completing Week 5 of the high school season. Per Board direction, all crews are to be evaluated after week five and again at the end of the regular season. Each association crew chief is to rate the crew. If you are not working with your entire crew, make sure you rate that official(s) on another game. All completed sub varsity games and AYF/Pop Warner games should already be completed. Youth game evaluations must be up to date. First and second year officials in particular need feedback. For those of you who have requested to be youth referees, failure to complete evaluations in a timely manner will affect future assignments.
Thank You Mike Downing and Mike Gunzelman – Thank you Mike and Mike for their outstanding leadership of the SD Youth Football Fund. These two honorable gentlemen continue to keep us organized and informed about the great things the SDCFOA is doing to support the greater San Diego Football Community! Start making plans for your crew to participate in Game Check Weekend in October, the SDYFF Golf Tourney in November. Remember, you can always donate on your own at any time! Just send your donation to Mike or Mike -hahaha.
