The Georgia High School Association gets complaints every week about calls made during football games, but GHSA football administrator Tommy Whittle admits that he was flabbergasted by one he got this week.
Bacon County was trailing Pierce County 26-7 without about eight minutes left on Friday when Bacon was awarded three points for a kickoff that split the uprights. Rules do not allow for points on standard kickoffs. Bacon used the points to drive a furious comeback, but lost 26-22.
‘’How in the world that six grown men who’ve been officiating football for over 100 years (among them) would make that kind of mistake, I don’t know,’’ Whittle said. ‘’It was definitely a zinger, I’ll say that much.’’
In fact, the entire fourth quarter was a zinger.
The craziness began after Pierce County was called for roughing the kicker on Bacon’s point-after attempt that made the score 26-7. According to Pierce County coach Sean Pender, Bacon’s kicker took revenge on the Pierce County rougher, leading to an altercation. Pierce was penalized a second time, leading to the ejection of the Pierce County player.
Pender was steamed about what he perceived as that injustice, but his next complaint couldn't be disputed.
With the ball advanced 30 yards because of the penalties, Bacon kicked off from the Pierce 30. The official misapplied a free-kick rule, giving Bacon a chance for three points if the kick split the uprights. In high school and the NFL (but not the NCAA), teams can attempt a free kick and score points from it immediately after a legal fair catch. It is very rarely a favorable strategy, making the rule obscure to most fans, and it does not apply to traditional kickoffs after scoring plays.
‘’I don’t know if the whole crew got confused or they were just backing him (the lead official),’’ Pender said. “But it was definitely aggravating. It turned the momentum.’’
The excitement did not end there. According to Pender's account, Bacon recovered an onside kick, drove to the Pierce 1-yard line, lost a fumble, but recovered a Pierce fumble at the 2, and cashed the second opportunity for a touchdown. That cut the lead to 26-16.
Bacon recovered another onside kick and completed a 57-yard touchdown pass, making the score 26-22. Two-point conversations failed after both touchdowns.
Bacon then recovered a third onside kick. But Pierce's defense held on to seal the victory.
Pender said that the head official from Friday's game e-mailed him an apology on Monday. Pender said he appreciated that the official acknowledged the mistake and expressed remorse, but Pender said he hoped that would not be the end of it.
‘’We all have to be accountable for our actions,’’ Pender said. “As football coaches, your job is on the line. With mistakes like that, if you end up losing, especially in a rivalry game, it wouldn’t look good for you.’’
Whittle said the officiating crew could expect disciplinary action from its association or the GHSA but declined to speculate on what it might be until a decision was made.
Said Pender, ‘’I was joking today that we tried to make things exciting at the end because we saw people leaving early in the fourth quarter. We still won the game, so right now I’m moving forward, but what happened was wrong.’’
Here is the play as shown on NFHS Network -
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