[zaga_fan]

So, were the officials in this game as bad as what I have been hearing?

The officials were bad - and before we go any further I'll go ahead and give the entire spill from someone that watched the entire game and has no interest in hiding behind refs. I may be a Perry fan but I call it like I see it.

The first half went by with very few flags. The end of the first half was controversial because time ran out and Perry started to run off of the field. Sheldon Clark had ran out of bounds and the timekeeper didn't stop the clock when the whistle blew. The refs got together and put another second on the clock and had Perry turn around to come out for one more play. Cardinal fans booed and jeered - but the refs got together and did the right thing in putting time on the clock. The Cardinals threw a TD pass that was ruled incomplete that Cardinal fans weren't happy about - I thought it was a TD. However, the kid had to stretch to get it, bobbled it a little bit and went out of bounds afterward. I don't know for sure if he got possession before he went out - but the ref said he didn't and he had the best view of it.

Second half there were a lot of calls BOTH ways. Perry had a TD called back for holding, a few holds on Sheldon Clark, and a LOT of personal fouls on Perry (justifiably so). The big thing that people are going to talk about was the fumble that Perry recovered near the end of the game. I was looking straight at it - as the Sheldon Clark player was falling forward the ball was out and the ref had thrown the beanbag before the runner was down. It was a legit fumble - untimely - but legit.

The last 6 minutes of the game there were two no-calls on late hits against Perry Central. One was a blatant frustration situation in which a kid picked another kid up and slung him as he was already tackled. I would say horrible call, but on the Perry Central drive right before that you had a Cardinal do it to Austin Pray after forward progress was stopped and as the whistle was being blown to end the play. The second no-call on Perry Central was a tackle about 2 or 3 full seconds after a kickoff return was blown dead - but the kid had just lateraled to someone to try to pull a Cal-Stanford and still had his arms wrapped up like he still had the ball - it was a late-hit, but not a blatant one like the first.

In a close game like this the refs are always in question, but the bottom line is Sheldon Clark had their chances. They gave up several big plays, they almost refused to tackle at times and call me crazy....
but it seemed to me like the coach had a hard time getting eleven guys in on each play. I would say that there were at least five times where they had to send someone in with the clock winding down. They also made a bad decision late in this one. Game tied with two minutes to go - they had a 4th and 4 at midfield. The elected to go for it and didn't get it. That gave Perry a 2 minute drill from midfield and the Dores scored with 20 ticks on the clock to win the game.

Overall it was a great game to sit and watch as a football fan - but the stigma of Perry Central referees is something that always seems to be in the mind of opposing teams as they come into APG.