Meeting Next Week - We will be meeting next Wednesday 10/7 at West Hills - All officials including regulars, 1st year and 2nd year and transfers will meet. In order to conduct our SDCFOA Board Elections, regular classes will meet from 7:00 - 7:50 and then will adjourn to the Theater for the preliminary elections. Important: All 1st year, 2nd year and transfers will stay in their classrooms. They do not vote. 1st & 2nd year instructors will vote when a ballot is brought to your classroom.
Game Check Weekend. October 23 and 24. We have had this as one of our fundraisers in past years, without much success to be honest. While we still want to target a weekend to allow our officials to share in part of their game fees for that weekend, we have set a fund raising goal for this weekend of $5000. As you know, we have two events to raise funds, this and the golf tournament. We give scholarships equal to $5,000 each year, and have donated to football youth in our community of more than $20,000 over the past 4 years. While $5,000 sounds like a lot, if 250 members donated $20 each, not even half of a Pop Warner game, we would get there. We would like to encourage the crew chiefs to get involved, work with your crew to achieve the $20 contribution per man, if we can get the crews to do that at a minimum, we are at $3,600. The SDYFF will buy the crew who contributes the most during this weekend a full crew dinner after your game on October 30th! That’s almost $20/man anyway, so drive the bus to be the best, and we’ll take care of your dinner that night!! If officials want to give a game check and add to the $20, that’s great, but we want crew participation this year to get it done. We will be providing you with instructions on how to donate before our fund raising weekend, but save your dimes and tell your crew chief you are in!! Let’s make this work.
Golf Tournament - We will be at Riverwalk again, shotgun start on November 18, approximately 11:00. Website is up and running at www.sandiegoyouthfootballfund.org., to get your crews, foursome, or to play as an individual for the fun and frivolity. Sign up before November 1 to assure your spot. New this year, each hole will have a separate prize available for a hole in one, a legitimate prize like $10,000 in cash, $1,000 shopping spree at Taylormade, a Krank It golf driver, or vacation for 4 at a golf resort in Texas. We are also giving our top three teams a spot in the Randy Jones Invitational Championship, which includes at a minimum a free round of golf at Sycuan for the foursome, as well as potential to move on for further tournaments. Low net scores are what we use to qualify our teams. We will be providing lunch, 2 drink tickets, raffle for post golf prizes, and more for an entry fee of $130, if you just want golf and a cart, fee is $110. Contact Ed Blick at with questions or get on-line to check out the details..
We Are all One Football Community –Last Fridaynight, Mike Gunzelman was not feeling well in the JV game, thought it was heat related, but after the Mission Hills team doctor called the ambulance and rushed him to the hospital he actually had a heart attack while in the coaches office or in the ambulance. He had a stent replaced almost immediately upon getting to the hospital. The stint had gotten clogged and had probably been building up to this point for a while. Mike is now doing well and was released on Saturday night. The SDCFOA and Mike and the whole Mike Downing crew also want to say a huge thanks to Ken Putnam, AD, and the entire Mission Hills coaching staff for their thoughts and prayers including a team prayer for Mike before hitting the field for their game. They went out of their way to make the crew feel comfortable working the game. Of course, a huge thanks to their team doctor who made the call and certainly saved Mike from having any damage. It truly was a football community taking care of one of our own, and I'm sure their thoughts and prayers, along with ours, helped Mike. He is now home and feeling good! God bless the San Diego County Football Community! Thank you Mission Hills!
Hey 1st and 2nd Year Officials - If you go to watch a game, bring your uniform with you in the car! You never know! Mike Downing’s crew had a second year guy shadowing their crew and he did not bring his stuff. He was told at halftime of the JV game to go home and get it. He did, got to work LJ for the #1 team in the county, made it back with about 5 minutes to go prior to game time. Stressful for him, he settled down and worked a good game, so all ended well.
Thank You Coaches - Without your support and generous sharing of your game video our association would not be able to benefit from the weekly instructional videos and each crew's self-analysis. Sometimes we hate what we see, but it provides us with an opportunity to fix it! Again, thank you for making this happen. If you haven't shared you can do so by exchanging with San Diego County Football Officials. We are listed as if we were a team in the HUDL system. Just exchange without requiring something in return. Thank you!
The Regular Season Begins - Teams are now playing conference opponents and league championships are at stake. We need to "up our game" in response to this unique part of the schedule. Teams are more familiar with each other and that can be a good thing or a bad thing. Be aware of rivalries.
Snap Counts and Defensive Signals – It is an unsportsmanlike conduct foul for a player to use disconcerting acts or words prior to the snap in an attempt to interfere with A’s signals or movements. I’ve seen video of defenses continually making fake charges at the offense in an attempt to create a false start. I’ve also heard of defenses making defensive calls in a manner that is disconcerting and interfering with A’s signals. We need the umpire and the referee to step up in these situations and, hopefully, warn the defense out of a foul. Defense may not call a line shift in a manner that conflicts with the cadence. This usually just takes a warning or some negotiations, or a flag.
This is Not a Difficult Enforcement Unless it Happens to You on Friday Night! - Team K attempting a scrimmage kick is in an illegal formation at the snap. During the return of the kick, R1 has a block in the back foul against K20 player at R’s 15 yard line. R returned the kick to R’s 30. Enforcement options? These live-ball penalties do not offset because of the change of possession during the play. Team R can keep the ball only if they decline the Team K formation foul. Team K then accepts the penalty for the BiB half the distance from the spot of the foul. First and ten for Team R at R’s 7 ½ yard line.
Crowds Outside the Team Box – This is a good problem! Some of our feature games are attracting huge crowds which can also mean a lot of extra fans standing on the sideline. Remember, these fans are not a part of the team and cannot be penalized, but should any or some of them interfere with the game and our officiating, then they can be removed by the home school administration. Administration is there for a reason, so don’t bother the head coach, elicit help from the site admin.
PA System for The Referee – Just to let the schools know, our referees are fully capable of operating a wireless mike for penalty announcements. These systems are costing around $300 now and fans and coaches really like getting explanations on unusual plays. It is also great for resetting the game clock. You may want to consider this in your next budget.
Forward Progress – When a receiver comes back for the ball and is not contacted by a defender, the receiver gets no forward progress on that play. Only when a receiver is contacted by a defender and is being pushed back by the defender does the receiver get forward progress from where the contact was first made.
Signals and Clock Awareness – Everyone on the crew should be relaying signals. If one person signals time out, we all signal time out. I’ve seen video where crew members were getting lazy with this and making the crew look sloppy and unprofessional. The clock operator is dependent on good signals from all officials. Let’s make this a crew goal for this week!
