Sectional contest slips away late for Cloverdale 33-13

"If ever a score doesn't reflect what happened in the game" Understatement of the year! The article does not mention the abysmal officiating crew that gave equally bad no-calls to the questionable penalties that came at the most drive stopping times. These young men deserved a better end than that. Can't change the outcome at this time, but it would be good to have this game reviewed at higher levels to prevent the poor officials from ruining another teams game. A loss on fair terms is a loss. This game did not meet those terms.

I could not agree more. It was heart wrenching to watch. In addition to the incident the paper mentions, there were many more times there were no holding calls, no pass interference calls, etc (except for againt the Clovers) . When a receiver is blatantly shoved out of bounds in the middle of a pass, before the ball even reaches him, and the ref is standing right there watching the whole thing and does nothing, it was apparent they had no intention of allowing Cloverdale to win that game. And it continued to get worse the entire fourth quarter. It was sad watching the boys get so frustrated bad call after bad call. They wanted to win this so badly and were well on there way to doing so. I know when a team loses, the first thing they want to do is blame the refs..but this time, it truly was the officials that ruined this game. They should be ashamed of themselves.This is not a win Cascade can be proud of and a game that should most definitely be reviewed and some sort of action taken against those officials.

The better team won this game. Did you not see the first two plays of the game, where Cascade had two 30+ yard runs called back. How about the mistake the officials made that allowed Cloverdale to score their second touchdown. How about the clock and the play clock not being started on time to favor Cloverdale all night. Give credit where credit is due. How can the officials make a difference in a 19 point game.

Cadet, the 1st two plays were correctly called. Block in the back. Watch the film, it can be enlightening. I have seen a couple of games where the refs DID run the tempo of the game. The line judge on the far side was making undefinable calls that followed a pattern. I will give you the problem Cloverdale had containing #3. I will not concede on the poor officiating or the dirty play by the Cadets. They have a bad reputation in that respect, got film on that too. Plenty of no call activity in the previous meeting. Go Speedway!

I don't recall a mistake that allowed Cloverdale to score their second touchdown so I'm not sure what you mean by that. The mistake was made the play before that, where Cloverdale's receiver was shoved out of bounds before he caught the ball. I would most definitely give credit if I felt it was due. I have been to every single Cloverdale football game in the last four years. And Cloverdale has lost many games fairly. They lost to Cascade fair and square earlier this season. I have never once, blamed the officials until now. Officials can make a big difference, even in a 19 point game. By staring directly at plays, 3 feet from where there is obvious pass interference and holding..time and time again and not calling them. Allowing the defense to hang onto the jersey of the receiver, or shove him out of bounds during a pass play so he can not catch the ball, keeps them from scoring and moving the ball down the field. Not to mention, being treated unfairly and knowing there is nothing you can do about it, not only frustrates the boys but is also disheartening and causes them to lose focus. It's hard to play with your head on straight when you know you not only have to beat the other team, but the refs as well. I'm definitely not saying that Cascade is not a good team, but I wouldn't say they are the "better" team.

It is funny you say cascade is dirty. Cloverdale had the only two unsportsmanlike penalties. A late hit out of bounds and a unsportsmanlike penalty for saying something to the ref.

Cadet, both of those "Unsportsmanlike conduct" calls were questionable. The OB play was toss up due to the running along the line and late whistles by the line judge, who should not have been officiating at a high school game. The boys are taught to play til the whistle. The second, was questionable due to the players not having said anything to the ref. No number was given, thus it was not proven. These refs would not say who made the infraction, making it easy to cover their mistakes. By the way, #3 fumbled on that play but it was ruled dead ball. When it takes breaking the rules to stop another team from advancing the ball, that is cheating, regardless of "playing hard" or whatever excuse is used to justify. To get back to the real point, that officiating crew changed the outcome of the game. Not saying that Cloverdale would have won, but that it was denied the chances to fairly win. The IHSAA truly needs to examine the quality and bias of official's during seasons prior to assigning them to tournament games. It's not just Cloverdale that these things happen to. Like I said, there are certain officials that don't belong in the league they work in. You may have noticed the ref's numerous conferences during the game. Seems like there was some contention among the crew. That is usually an indicator of a crew problem.

I agree the officials were not very good. Did you not see cascade's coach questioning multiple mistakes they made. My problem is you are still blaming the outcome on them. They were bad both ways. Give credit were credit is due. Cascade was the better team