There are a few basic principles that govern how we strive to officiate football games. These might be termed our Officiating Philosophy. While this list isn’t comprehensive of all the activities we perform as a crew, they do represent the bedrock principles we try to follow:

      1. Safety first. This means we are watching for unsafe play on the field on every play. Spearing and illegal helmet contact will draw quick flags whenever and wherever we see them. We will also be on the look-out for dangerous weather conditions; we will suspend play when conditions exceed our guidelines.  
      2. Communicate, communicate, communicate. We will work within our crew to be sure we’re “on the same page” at all times. And we will relay pertinent information of penalties to each sideline on a timely basis. We’ll also try to relay any other pertinent information to either/both sidelines as you have questions.
      3. Preventive officiating. To the extent that we observe borderline or incipient problems early in the game or at emotional points in the game where tempers threaten to “boil over” and detract from the spirit of good sportsmanship, we will try as best we can to deal with these as warnings to players and/or coaches. We’ll not be shy about making calls that are well “over the line” at any point in the contest. But we will try as best we can to control the game without having to resort to the use of penalties.
      4. Fairness. This seems obvious. But it bears repeating. As an officiating crew, we simply do not care who wins or loses. Our job is to see that each team has as fair a chance to win as the other. This means what we see as illegal play for one, we will see as illegal play for the other. We will call rules violations “equally” based on how the teams are or are not following the rules. We will NOT make any effort to “balance” the calls. Whether your team is penalized heavily or not at all should depend entirely on how well you and your players observe the rules.
      5. “Let them play.” This might be stated another way as “Impact calls, only.” The basic idea is that we will try to only call fouls that impact the play. Otherwise, we will let the game be played by the players. We’ll never ignore a safety violation, though. Safety violations are by their very nature “impact plays” at all times. We’re aware, for example, that somewhere on the field on almost every down there are players that are technically guilty of Holding or Illegal Use of Hands. If we see such activity at the point of attack, you can bet we’re going to call it. But if there is a sweep to the right and there is holding on the opposite end of the line, there is not an official in our association who is likely to see such a foul on the left.
      6. “The best game I ever had, no one knew I was there.” This is sort of a catchall. We will try to set the pace of the game, and work together with you, your teams, your chain crews, your band directors, site security and all other people there to be a part of the game in such a way as to be as little noticed as possible. We’re keenly aware that no one, save possibly as GHSA evaluator, comes to the game to see the officials. We will do the necessary to enforce the rules of the game. But we’ll strive to do so in a way that is the least intrusive on play as possible.

In order to do all this, we have a fairly detailed idea of what each official’s duties are on each down and in every situation we’ve learned how to predict. Collectively, we describe the position and movement of individual officials and the entire crew as our Mechanics:

      1. Surround the play. Our pre-snap or pre-kick positions and even how we move to them have been refined over the years. We can expect additional refinements in years to come. However, the basic premise is to do our best to surround the play at all times. Five of the six officials we typically have on the field for a game work an outside-in technique. The sixth official, the Umpire, has to work inside-out on most plays because his pre-snap position puts him on the defensive side of the ball right behind the linebackers. As the play progresses, this group will move as individuals, but the result should be that the play stays “boxed in” at all times by the group. We want to have all eyes on the critical and most problem-prone parts of the play as it develops. The greater the number of angles we have, the better we like it.
      2. Every official has initial keys to read. Each official’s coverage changes based on the type of play he sees and the flow of players into or out of his zone of responsibility. For example, primary coverage of the ball-carrier will typically change from the Referee to the Head Linesman (or Line Judge) to the Field Judge (or Back Judge) on a long touchdown run. Though it may all appear seamless to the casual fan, the hand-off of responsibility for the ball-carrier happens at specific spots on the field or relative to the line-of-scrimmage.
      3. Where the ball is on the field changes the pre-snap or pre-kick positions of the officials. It also changes which keys are read by which officials and what each official’s initial change in position will be upon the snap or kick, especially for scrimmage plays near each goal line.
      4. Communicating with the sideline. Each of the officials working near the team box is responsible for relaying information as quickly and concisely as possible to their respective sidelines. On every penalty, we will try to relay the foul, who it was called on by team and player’s number. Where there are multiple fouls, we’ll relay all that information, too.
      5. Communicating among ourselves. We have a number of auxiliary signals that we use between downs and just before the snap or kick to share the status of each team on the field and our coverage of those teams. While these signals are designed to call little attention from the ordinary observer, they are also used for the purpose of getting good counts of players and correct observation of player positions as may impact the play to follow. For example, we make every effort to know when a player who is eligible by number to be a pass receiver is lined up in an ineligible position. If he subsequently goes down field on a forward pass or, worse yet, illegally touches a forward pass, we have an impact penalty that must be called. Our auxiliary signals are what make this subsequent call possible.