I agree totally this is a conflict of interest and it will not happen again.  I also agree that he has done excellent this year (especially for a 1st year official) and I have heard nothing but good things about him.  I will take responsibility for this one, Mis-communication on my part. 

I’m not sure why a ref would need to come up to me at halftime of a game and tell me that the infc has been on his case about not making enough calls. But this Ref was on the opposite side of the field and threw a flag on our team every time a big play happen. I did not ask to speak to the ref he came to me at half and explained why he was throwing so many flags. But him or the other two ref didn’t call one penalty on the other team in first half. 2nd half only called the penalty because it happened right in front of them and they couldn’t act like it didn’t. 4th quarter 45 second left the one ref throws a flag on a punt that was returned for a td, that would have ended the game. He said it was a block in back we have viewed the tape in many different angles and it was no block in the back and not sure why he would even thought block in the back. I don’t mind taking the lost cause our boys need it, but the way that game was ref is not good for the game. It was clear that we was walking into a no win situation. Never complained about refs but this was ridiculous the ref on our sideline stated he couldn’t call a penalty on the RB who was moving before snap cause it’s not his call.

 Coach Martin, I don't know what grade or game your referring to this weekend in Hilldale, but I can personal attest to the officiating being horrendous. That ref you are referring to about having a kid on the 6th grade team should have not been there. First off he doesn't know the rules. He told me that I could not be on the field coaching my kids during an officials timeout but to only give them water, when the Hilldale coach was clearly out there coaching his kids up. I brought this to his attention and he told me "you're on my sideline".  I had to yell for the other refs and they corrected this same official. Second, I was told i was using an illegal ball. I knew the rule on the equipment and showed them on my phone to prove them wrong. After this you think we got a fair call ? NO..... Three kids in the Emergency Room for concussions and another with a fractured leg. Several more with bruises on their lower backs from face masks hitting them while they were down or going down.  And if you think i'm making this up i have the video to back all this up and YES it will be sent into the INFC.
  I personally am for the refs but this Saturday was an absolute joke.  I have film of blatant helmet to helmet hits, late hits and helmets driven into the backs of my players when they are already on the ground.  Now i'm all for physical football but this was straight dirty football and an embarrassment to this sport and league.
 Your own hospital told us that 6 kids had came to the ER privious to us for concussion symptoms. Not saying all were done intentional but DAMN.... I've never heard of this in all my years.  CLEAN IT UP HILLDALE.
 You bet your butt i'm fired up and i wont stop until this is fixed. Sad when three diffent teams came to me warning me of this type of play. Time to step in INFC and fix these issues.

When we are winning 14-6 and we discuss leaving and taking a forfeit that should probably say something.

Shoot me a pm please.

Funny that during the meeting in the middle of the field a Hilldale coach said something about chop blocks (That meeting was called by Chad Lott) .  I would encourage him or whoever to educate themselves on the difference. My kid performed what is called a cut block where he dives in front of the player, NOT at his legs. The block he was referring to is where a player is engaged high and another goes low. That block creates injuries. I'm not ok with that.   
I said it that day and i'll say it again. Hilldale is a great football team. Clean up the late hits and the leading with the helmets and you guy would be a solid contender for any championship.  My issues were the no calls from refs to correct this type of behavior. It's going to get a kid seriously hurt and i fear it will be the kid leading with the helmet.

As to the injuries that occurred to any Hilldale player i will keep them in my prayers because i wish no kid to be hurt. 

And you can't deny there isn't issues because i'm not the only team that has voiced concern.  Talk to others that Hilldale has played. I'll quote one " Not in 16 years of me coaching in this league have i ever seen the helmet to helmet contact so bad"  That was referring to Hilldale.


I'm not attacking the kids and i'm not going to sit here and call each of them out. But the fairness was a little one sided Saturday.

CEFHEL. 

Since you asked, I’m a coach for the 6th grade Berryhill team, we played in the game after yours.  After your game and watching the heated exchanges between fans, coaches and refs, I was a little worried we might have problems with the officials, especially knowing one of them had a son playing for Hilldales 6th grade team. 

I had no reason to worry, the officials were very professional and called a great game.  They even flagged a player of mine for targeting, it was the correct call.   They did a great job of controlling the game and they communicated very well with the coaches.  I’m sorry for the experience you had in your game, it was 100% different for us. 

Officials are human, they make mistakes and maybe they blew a few calls.  However, I have to stand up for this crew. I watched a large portion of your game and most of the second half I watched from your sidelines.  What I saw was an extremely physical football game with 2 very passionate teams playing.  I also saw and heard things from parents in your stands that I would not tolerate from my parents.  It’s very emotional when players get hurt, especially for the parents. Some of your parents were out of control with things they were saying to the officials.  I didn’t see every hit or physical play, however, I did witness one of the plays that injured a player.  In my opinion, it was a perfectly legal and very hard hit.  No flag was thrown because it was a legal hit.  Your parents went nuts, they were yelling some very inappropriate things to the officials. 

I will say this, the only thing I saw in your game that truly bothered me was...  you had a injured player come out of the game.  He took his pads off and watched the rest of the game from the sidelines.  When the game went into overtime and you needed yards to win the game.  One of the coaches gave him his pads back, he redressed and went out on the field and got you the win. 

I really hope he wasn’t one of the players you suspected was seriously injured. 

Were the refs bad in your game??  Maybe
Let’s not loose sight of the part coaches and parents played in this debacle of a football game.

Shaffer5 I appreciate your conversation. The kiddos are doing better. 

Coach Martin as much as I hate It you are correct about the coaches and parents.  That was corrected. But I disagree about the hits. We will leave it at that. Good luck the remainder of your season.
 I was asked to stop replying about the officials and I will respect that request. INFC has reviewed the issues and addressed it to my satasfaction. I addressed the refs with an apology on behalf of myself  because I'm a big boy and it's the right thing to do.  My goal here was to save kids from future injuries. 
As to the kid with his pads off that was his choice. He was told if he didn't want to continue to pull his pads off. If he did put them on.