Mike Vukovcan Instead of doing the normal postgame story, I’m going to change things up and focus on the most influential aspect of last night’s game between Hopewell and Central Valley.
I want to start by saying I get it, all sports leagues are struggling to find individuals that want to referee and umpire sporting events. It’s a thankless job that you make very little for doing.
At the end of day you’re likely to get criticized so is it worth it? With the scarcity of officials, most people are saying No.
With that being said, the group of officials for last nights game were absolutely atrocious and unfortunately played a large role in last night’s outcome.
Missing one or two calls is understandable and frankly human nature but that wasn’t the case Friday night. This group of individuals bordered were really, really bad.
Thats not to mention other things that they completely turned a blind eye to throughout the game.
Here just a few examples of the blatant misses that went against Hopewell
*First drive of the game, on a field goal attempt by Rocco Marcantonio, the Hopewell snapper/center was pulled/dragged down and leveraged against to get a blocked field. That’s an obvious penalty but wasn’t called and cost Hopewell 3 points.
*1st quarter and Hopewell trailing 3-0, CV had 3rd and 13 deep in their own territory. Hopewell forced an incomplete pass which was high and wide. However, the back judge which was awful, somehow called pass interference on a pass where the receiver wasn’t interfered with. Video shows that.
Instead of CV punting and Hopewell likely receiving the ball near midfield or better, CV was gifted a 1st down and went on to score a touchdown.
*Example #3, late in 2nd quarter, Hopewell drove to inside the CV 1 yard line. QB James Armstrong pushed himself in to score an apparent Hopewell TD. However, a penalty was called for false start, which was complete BS.
Yeah, let’s show that we’re real officials by calling a penalty in that situation. Complete joke and that play completely changed the game.
Hopewell was then stopped on 4th down and got zero points. So that’s 10 points that this incompetent group of refs had a direct influence on.
*Example #4, following that series, CV took over deep in their own territory. On 4th and 1 from I believe their own 15 yard line, CV went for it.
The Hopewell d-line got great push and appeared to tackle the quarterback for a loss. At worst, it was no gain. But you guessed it, the Ref Show inexplicably called it a 1st down. Zero chance they gained yards on the play.
Instead of Hopewell taking over deep in CV territory, the defense was forced to stay on the field.
*Example #5, this was a thing of beauty and something some people had never witnessed. With 13 seconds left in the half, CV had the ball at the Hopewell 20 yard line.
On 3rd down, Hopewell made a tackle inbounds and CV had no timeouts left and would never have been able to get their field team onto the field, line up and get a kick away.
However, one on the refs fell down on the 3rd down play and instead of the clock continuing to run, the clock was stopped for the official. Miraculously, he got up seconds later but CV was able to run their FG unit onto the field and were lined up when the clock starting running.
The field goal was good and the lead was increased to 13-0. To keep you updated, that’s 13 points that these referees influenced.
*Example #6, Another missed call is on an Armstrong interception during the return the Central Valley player fumbled the ball and a Hopewell recovery was negated by an early whistle.
*Example #7, this didn’t influence any scoring but needs to be pointed out to further the point of how pathetic these refs were.
I believe it was in the 4th quarter, the refs called a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the CV sideline. However, moments later they decided to pick the flag up. LOL, another thing I’d never witnessed before.
Plenty of calls went against CV in 2nd half, which included a few personal foul penalties. Problem was the horse was already out of the barn and their negative impact was already felt.
Despite this unfortunate ref show and their best player gutting it out with an injury, Hopewell trailed by just 13-7 with 6/7 minutes left in the game and possession of the ball.
The Hopewell team showed guts, battled hard for 4 quarters and kept their composure despite the circumstances with the refs and with other unfortunate incidents.
Here were the final team statistics from last nights game, which show the final score was misleading.
First Downs- Hopewell 15 Central Valley 15
Rushes- Hopewell 27 for 124 yards, CV 44 for 194 yards
Passing- Hopewell 15/30 for 173 yards, CV 7/14 for 7@ yards.
Although the result was disappointing, the Sun ☀️ rose this morning and Hopewell still controls their own destiny. Beat North Catholic next Friday and they’re in the playoffs.
Anyone that really knows me, knows that I’m not someone that rarely blames games on refs or coaches.
However, last night was a glaring example of refs playing way too much of a role in the outcome of a game that should be decided by officials.
The WPIAL needs to do better.
