Food For Thought

Just a note here. I use this segment when there's a nugget of thought I feel like turning into a paragraph or two. Nothing crazy, not calling anyone out... just my thoughts. My observations. They're worth a penny to most, and an article to this website.

Even the best officiating crew can impact a post-sectional game. This really came to me while watching Marcellus & Schalmont go at it in the opener at Stillwater Tuesday. As a Section III resident, I can tell you that among the three boards in our section (Utica, Syracuse, Watertown), there are many differences among them in basically every sport except for football. In Syracuse, they really let you get after it. In Watertown, they call almost everything. In Utica, half the refs call nothing, the other half call everything. If the officials among three boards in a section aren't consistent among themselves, do you expect all the officials in a state to be consistent amongst each other? Nope. Not saying the guys with whistles are at fault here. Just a thought. Marcellus & Schalmont play entirely contrasting styles, and some of that has to do with how they're officiated through the season. Schalmont was smaller than Marcellus, but not by a lot. Marcellus, though, was MUCH more physical. The Syracuse board makes you play through all sorts of contact. In the Capital District, much more is called, at least in soccer. You're used to having certain things called, you'll expect to have them called all the way through. There does come a point where you can't use that as a crutch, and you need to adjust to how the game is being called. It's part of being a soccer player instead of just an athlete. However, the difference was noticeable. Plenty of Schalmont parents were complaining about the physicality on the field and how much was being let go, screaming for calls, heard the word "dirty" thrown around a few times, so on and so on. I found myself thinking, "This is just another game in the Syracuse area". If the game was being called much tighter, Schalmont's squad, who is smallish, quick, and plays more of a pretty game, would have had an advantage. However, the officials let the extra bump go, let the slightly aggressive shield play on, and it most certainly played into Marcellus' hands, wearing Schalmont down a little bit with every play.

There's not really a way to change it unless all officials go to some sort of a convention where the rules are mapped out - what to call, what not to call, how physical do you let it get, and all that good stuff. I don't expect that to happen. Therefore, officiating after sectional play will always be a factor. I'm not going to call it a problem because I thought it was alright - just a factor, and in situations like this, a pretty big one.