Highland Springs vs. Stone Bridge (Part 5)

[springer76]

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I just looked at the game where HS recovered the SB fumble in the end zone that resulted in a HS touchdown. HS recovered the ball and he jump up, excited. Just jumping up and down and the official threw the flag. He was just excited, it wasn't unsportsmanlike. SB was showing excitement after their touchdowns too, why didn't the get flagged for it? It is what it is at this point but, it seems like the unsportsmanlike behavior came from the ones in stripes!

 

[Repeat1stDown]

As an former official in the state of Virginia for 17+ years, we'd preach to our officials ODBA(officiate deadball activity) especially with high school kids. I can't speak for what the official saw, or heard but you've got to step in and talk to these kids between plays and warn them and there coaches(it looks better when you decide to throw a flag). I wont speak for the video that's posted but from the game tape, the second flag after the strip sack TD was egregious. After a score the Umpire(who threw the penalty) is suppose to "hurry" in and break players up to there sideline. I saw an official stand and watch, then throw a flag for what looked like excessive celebration. Unless you run in and separate players or show urgency you dont throw that flag, and certainly not in a close State semifinal game, in the fourth quarter. I was shocked and a bit saddened for that official as he has to now make excuses for his decision rather than step in and tell the kids, "white go to your sideline, blue go to your sideline". I feel for these kids but I'm also congratulative to Stone Bridge. Regardless of what the official did or didn't do, they won the game. NVFOA, I'd appreciate as a fellow official if you show these clips at your next membership meeting and talk to all officials about the importance of "preventative officiating". This didn't have to happen.

But was H'land Springs going to score the 2pt conversion?!

We'll never know...

 

[SBOEDog]

Springer76, frankly I don’t know. Stone Bridge was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty following their 2nd TD which in turn led to a short kickoff, good return, and an awesome 1 handed catch by HS in the end zone to tie the game at the end of the half. It certainly did seem that the refs were really trying to remove any type of mild celebration following TD’s. (3 calls like that in one game is crazy and nothing seemed over the top). Trust me, I’m not a fan of punishing any team for being happy that they scored. I think the spirit of the taunting rule has moved to far to the other extreme.

 

[springer76]

As an former official in the state of Virginia for 17+ years, we'd preach to our officials ODBA(officiate deadball activity) especially with high school kids. I can't speak for what the official saw, or heard but you've got to step in and talk to these kids between plays and warn them and there coaches(it looks better when you decide to throw a flag). I wont speak for the video that's posted but from the game tape, the second flag after the strip sack TD was egregious. After a score the Umpire(who threw the penalty) is suppose to "hurry" in and break players up to there sideline. I saw an official stand and watch, then throw a flag for what looked like excessive celebration. Unless you run in and separate players or show urgency you dont throw that flag, and certainly not in a close State semifinal game, in the fourth quarter. I was shocked and a bit saddened for that official as he has to now make excuses for his decision rather than step in and tell the kids, "white go to your sideline, blue go to your sideline". I feel for these kids but I'm also congratulative to Stone Bridge. Regardless of what the official did or didn't do, they won the game. NVFOA, I'd appreciate as a fellow official if you show these clips at your next membership meeting and talk to all officials about the importance of "preventative officiating". This didn't have to happen.

But was H'land Springs going to score the 2pt conversion?!

We'll never know...

Here's the fumble recovery here..

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[-COUNTRY-CLUB-JOE-]

Stop here or there or another first down to extend a drive - there's a lot of ways to win or lose a close game. Bad calls, questionable calls; they're going to happen. You hope it's not a playoff game. I'm sure it's harder on coaches, kids, parents as they have much more invested than fans. Two good teams. Good game.

 

[springer76]

Stop here or there or another first down to extend a drive - there's a lot of ways to win or lose a close game. Bad calls, questionable calls; they're going to happen. You hope it's not a playoff game. I'm sure it's harder on coaches, kids, parents as they have much more invested than fans. Two good teams. Good game.

It was a good game. ... and it is in the history book now. It is what it is and bitchin' and griping won't fix it. From here, HS goes back to the drawing board for next year. Hopefully they all learned from their experience from one our most formidable distant rivals. As I said earlier, My sincere congrats to Stone Bridge's kids and staff. They've done a fantastic job!. I will be rooting for you guys next week! Oh, I'll be rooting for our arch rival and District foe, Varina as the face off with your District rival Broad Run next week for the Class 4 State Title! Funny how that worked out!

 

[wolverinedad2018]

It was a good trip and it was a good game. Both teams played their hearts out! I've seen celebrating unrecognized by officials all season and before. Never seen it called so close as it was today. That's just the way the cookie crumbles I guess! For HS's staff, they need to address this issue and make sure our kids refrain from it after touchdowns or big plays. The first one... okay. Twice within a few minutes, that should've never happened. Those 2 penalties was the difference in this game going to OT and being settled on the field, but the officials had a hand in it. Oh well....
I look forward to next year as HSs team is very young and a strong core return next year. We'll be back!
Congratulations to Stone Bridge and their players! You won a hard fought battle, now go down to Norfolk and show Maury who's boss! Bring it home Bulldogs!

I agree it may have sent the game to OT. Your forgetting that last milk the clock drive by SB they most likely would have scored and ended it there. You never know though.

 

[SBOEDog]

I just wanted to say that the Springer fans were great. They packed their side as expected and even got a little tailgating in beforehand. I do think all 3 “excessive celebration” penalties (2 again HS and 1 against SB) following TD’s helped script the game flow. Of course we will never know the results or even how play calling may have changed without those. In my opinion, unless I am blatantly missing something, all 3 flags could have been left tucked in the belt. Congrats to Highland Springs on playing a championship level game with championship level players and coaches. You have a lot to be proud of and fans of quality football recognize that.

 

[springer76]

I just wanted to say that the Springer fans were great. They packed their side as expected and even got a little tailgating in beforehand. I do think all 3 “excessive celebration” penalties (2 again HS and 1 against SB) following TD’s helped script the game flow. Of course we will never know the results or even how play calling may have changed without those. In my opinion, unless I am blatantly missing something, all 3 flags could have been left tucked in the belt. Congrats to Highland Springs on playing a championship level game with championship level players and coaches. You have a lot to be proud of and fans of quality football recognize that.

Absolutely! It's a new day, I slept on it and I'm good with it. I think the game was played by 2 evenly matched teams and there had to be a winner and a loser in the end. Stone Bridge ended as the victor! HS ended with a loss.
For us, we played a very challenging schedule with a lot of youth and inexperience. We ended with the experience we lacked in the beginning and I believe it will pay dividends for next year. We have a lot to look forward to and should be grateful for the experience. We have a great staff and a whole lot of Sophomores and Juniors coming back next year with the experience they needed.
I'm sure we will be in the mix again next year. Hopefully we can win a few more in the regular season and have you guys come to Highland Springs and have a visit in our new stadium and school!
Good luck to your Stone Bridge Bulldogs next week! I really am rooting for you! You guys have the best team in the State this year and you deserve a 15-0 undefeated Title winning campaign! We will see you again!

 

[HooSprings]

Springer76, frankly I don’t know. Stone Bridge was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty following their 2nd TD which in turn led to a short kickoff, good return, and an awesome 1 handed catch by HS in the end zone to tie the game at the end of the half. It certainly did seem that the refs were really trying to remove any type of mild celebration following TD’s. (3 calls like that in one game is crazy and nothing seemed over the top). Trust me, I’m not a fan of punishing any team for being happy that they scored. I think the spirit of the taunting rule has moved to far to the other extreme.

The unsportsmanlike against Stonebridge was against the SB center for slamming the DT back down to the ground after the score had already happened. That wasn’t a MADE UP call. Call it what you want but those 2 officials names have been turned in to VHSL and attorneys for investigation for termination

 

[WP02alum]

Sooooo mad

 

[Repeat1stDown]

The unsportsmanlike against Stonebridge was against the SB center for slamming the DT back down to the ground after the score had already happened. That wasn’t a MADE UP call. Call it what you want but those 2 officials names have been turned in to VHSL and attorneys for investigation for termination

The most that could happen in this situation is, those officials wont be eligible to officiate post season for a time determined by VHSL and/or NVFOA. Certainly not anymore Central Region teams/Highland Springs High School. Most JV games pay between $70-90 and Varsity $90-120, they aren't doing it for the money and aren't monetarily vested in Stone Bridge winning. I understand your frustration as a fan but lets be honest here, "attorney for investigation for termination" is laughable.

"The rules of football are black and white but to be a great official you have to officiate in the grey area". -Anonymous Official

 

[SBOEDog]

I think the personal foul on SB’s TD was on one of the guards and not the center. Let’s make sure that is accurate or we could have a mis-trial in court. Being frustrated versus calling for an investigation with attorneys are fairly distinct differences. SB had 11 penalties for 110 yards and HS had 8 for 75 yards in the game. I agree the “spike of the ball” call was something that should not have been flagged since it wasn’t a spike. Without that call HS could have won the game by 2 TD’s or SB could have won the game by 2 TD’s….everything from that point on becomes a hypothetical game-based situation that we will never know about.

 

[Thomasddev]

I am an HSHS fan and I was pretty upset at the 2 poor calls by the refs but that is not the reason why we lost. If you were sitting in the stands most of our fans were more upset at the poor play calling on the offensive side of the ball. We were destroying SB through the air but we would not commit to our strength which is passing the ball. It seems like our coaching staff is under the belief that we are a power running team even though we don't have the offensive line to do so. The offensive play calling this game at times reminded me of the foolishness they were calling in the Varina game. We had just threw a one handed TD before half time to Mike, and then threw another deep td to Latrell in the 3rd quarter. We stop SB from scoring and the coaching staff decides to continuously run the ball up the middle into SB strength because they were big and stout up front and lb but their dB's could not match up with our wr. At some point common sense has to kick in. I have been disappointed to say the least with the offensive play calling this year and the offensive decision making last year. I believe we would not have lost to SB in the finals last year if the coach would have benched Dent and started Aziz Powell, he was the big running back this year but he played qb the previous 2 years. He was a much better QB option than what they went with in number 12.

 

[SBOEDog]

I agree and also was surprised that Hodge, Sutton, and Heath weren’t used more to take the top off of the defense. I’m assuming the coaching staff wanted to try and control time of possession and keep Stone Bridge’s offense off the field. Nonetheless a good game between two really good teams.

 

[WP02alum]

Call it what you want but those 2 officials names have been turned in to VHSL and attorneys for investigation for termination

If @HooSprings was this mad about HS FB officiating, imagine how mad he was last night when UVA lost to JMU in MBB…