“I report what I see and hear, and sometimes I comment on it.” — David T. Young
It surprised me that WOOD-TV Channel 8 broadcast a fairly major report Friday night about a play that occurred during the Hopkins-Belding football contest.
I was present on the sidelines and in the stands at the ballgame and like Channel 8 was interested in call by referees that awarded a two-point safety to Hopkins early in the fourth period. The call was significant because it turned a 28-27 deficit for the Vikings into a 29-28 advantage and gave them possession of the football with good field possession. That instead of bring the ball out to the 20 for Belding with first and 10 as a result of a touchback.
This is what I saw and heard:
Hopkins punter Hunter Lewellyn booted a very high kick to a Belding receiver at about his own 15-yard line. The Black Knight clearly signaled a fair catch, but botched his attempt and touched the football, which fell behind him and bounded into the end zone.
The Belding player player clearly panicked and sprinted to the end zone to retrieve the errant pigskin, where he was tackled by an alert Viking, Bryce Smith, who seemed to be everywhere for big plays all evening. Hopkins, of course hollered that the result was a safety. Belding coach Joe Schwander flatly and loudly accused referees of making the call incorrectly when they demonstrated the signal for a safety.
The refs indeed huddled in the end zone by themselves to discuss what had just occurred before making a ruling. After a delay of about three minutes, they signaled a decision that pleased the home crowd.
Schwander apparently was contending that a muffed punt that goes backward into the end zone must be regarded as such and subsequently be brought out to the 20 for the receiving team. But it appeared to me that the panicked Belding receiver frantically tried to scoop up the ball and run it out of the end zone, to no avail because of Smith’s timely tackle.
I inquired of several people I’m aware know their football, and they all agreed the refs made the right call.
Specifically, Mike Salisbury, an assistant with Wayland’s varsity grid squad, wrote, “Call was correct I believe. Had the player not brought the ball out of the end zone and simply let the ball go, it would have been a touchback. Once he maintained possession and tried to bring it out he’s fair game. Sounds like the correct call.”
But while Belding fans and coaches may be maintaining that Hopkins stole the ballgame from them, the issue actually is more complicated than just the one call. Viking fans on Facebook screamed bloody murder about calls that went the other way that fateful night.
In one instance, Smith caught a 65-yard touchdown pass from QB Nolan Smith that was nullified because officials whistled Bryce for grabbing his defender’s face mask. I could be wrong, and even biased, but I thought Belding would be called for the infraction instead. I saw it from not so far away on the sidelines and told myself there would no problem with the flag thrown because Hopkins could just decline the penalty.
But it was not to be.
The Black Knights’ last drive of the night, which eventually resulted in a touchdown, was aided significantly by three major penalty calls, two of them for pass interference, at least one that could be argued better served as a no call.
For the referees at that football game Friday night, it was the fourth quarter from hell. We ask that officials call the game and administer the rules fairly. Since both sides weren’t happy, I suppose someone could argue they passed the litmus test.
