Official’s breakdown on last drive of the game from Smith at Southeast Guilford this past Friday night

Here is the breakdown of the last drive of the game from the Southeast Guilford-Ben L. Smith high school football game, this past Friday night, at SEG….This comes in from a former high school football official/referee….

Southeast Guilford ball and we go back to the last drive of the game, in what turned out to be a game-winning drive for SEG:

Here is the entire last drive for SEG:
1st and 10 from the 42: Jennings run for 4 yards
2nd and 6 from the 38: Baldwin run for 11 yards
1st and 10 from the 27: Liggs run for 3 yards
2nd and 7 from the 24: Craven pass to Paschal for 5 yards
3rd and 2 from the 19: Baldwin run for 8 yards
1st and 10 from the 11: Craven spikes to stop clock
2nd and 10 from the 11: Baldwin runs for 3 yards
3rd and 7 from the 8: Craven pass to Joyner for 6.5 yards
4th and 1 from the 1+: Craven sneak for 1 yard
FIRST DOWN DECLARED AND CLOCK STOPS
1st and Goal <1 yard: Craven sneak for touchdownThe clock stops on every 1st Down so that the officials can reset the chains and put the ball back into play. When the "White Hat" Referee blows the whistle, the clock starts. The officials in this game did exactly what they should have, based on the timing rules of football.

5 thoughts on “Official’s breakdown on last drive of the game from Smith at Southeast Guilford this past Friday night

  1. This makes sense. When Joyner caught the ball, the chain gang dropped the chains whcih left only the box. Most believed it was a 1st down. 1st down didn’t occur until the 1st QB sneak.

  2. Where u at Smith fans? What I thought!! Smith outplayed SE and should hold their heads high, not talk about something they know nothing about.

  3. Your sequence doesn’t have the time on the game clock when any of these plays started, so I’m not sure what it tells you.

    The problem with the last play appeared to be that the official is supposed to signal to re-start the game clock as soon as the chains are moved and re-set, not necessarily when Southeast is ready to snap the ball.

    I was there and I have no idea whether Southeast should have had enough time to get off that final play. Regardless, it was a heck of a game by both teams.

    And for anyone saying Smith should stop complaining, would the Southeast fans (or anybody else’s fans) have said nothing if they lost on the last play at Smith and there was any question about the clock? That’s how anyone would react. You’re just not used to Smith being competitive.

  4. SE’s final timeout was called after the Baldwin run on 2nd and 10. There was 15+ seconds on the clock. After the quick pass to Joyner (3-4 seconds), SE rushed to the line of scrimmage and ran the sneak. After the sneak ended, the head linesman (Smith side), the line judge (SE side), and the umpire (behind Linebackers) signaled for the clock to stop because of the 1st down. The clock was stopped at 2.2 seconds and the ball was reset.

    The reason why there was time between the 1st down spot and the re-start of play was because there was confusion on both sides of the ball as to what had just happened. Smith players had started to exit the field after the first sneak because they did not realize a 1st down was called and the SE players were readying themselves for another play.

    The “White Hat” Referee’s job is to signal the clock to begin running once the ball is placed and available to the offense. Because there were players who were still on the ground and players who thought the game was over, he wanted to make sure that all players knew there was one play left.

    Before the final play, the “White Hat” Referee spoke to both sets of players who were on the field, told them the situation, and then he signaled that a 1st down had been gained. He then allowed the umpire to place the ball and vacate the line of scrimmage (back to his area behind linebackers). Once both teams were ready and the situation had been explained to both sets of players, the “White Hat” Referee backed into his position behind the offense before signaling the clock to begin. SE snapped the ball immediately on his whistle (as soon as it was available) and scored.

  5. I wonder if the situation was reversed if the clock would have been stopped for Smith. Let me guess …. No!!! Smith went for a 4th and 1 from their 45 yard line with under 4 minutes left to play. If Smith had gotten the first down or punted the ball away SE would not have had a chance to win bottom line!!!

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