Celebration penalty costs high school football team a state title

[ralaw]

A Massachusetts high school lost a state championship game because a player raised his arm in triumph as he ran for what would have been a go-ahead touchdown.

The penalty for the gesture by Cathedral High School quarterback Matthew Owens in Saturday's Division 4A Super Bowl left the losing team Tuesday waiting for word from the state association on whether the school could challenge the referee's decision.

Blue Hills Regional Technical School won the game 16-14. That school's athletic director, Ed Catabia, told The Boston Globe that the referee made "a great call, the right call."

"We try and play by the rules, and the rule is 'no celebrating,'" he said.

“There was nothing dishonorable about the play," Owens' father, Kenneth, told the Boston Herald.

The referee was enforcing a sportsmanship rule that prohibits players from celebratory or taunting behavior while scoring a touchdown.

With Cathedral trailing 16-12, the 18-year-old senior was racing for a score with about six minutes left in the game. The penalty nullified the touchdown, and Owens threw an interception on the next play. Cathedral later got a safety and the ball back for one last chance, but lost the ball on downs.

Cathedral's athletic director James Lynch said the quarterback's instinctive move to raise his hand for a few strides as he approached the end zone could not be reasonably interpreted as excessive celebration, taunting or malicious.

"I just give people the analogy: imagine a basketball player making a clutch three-pointer right at the end of the game, and he turns around and he just kind of shakes his fist in the air kind of thing," Lynch told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "And it was simply just that and it was nothing else ... I don't think it was anything further than just excitement on the player's behalf."

http://hamptonroads.com/2011/12/celebration-penalty-costs-high-school-football-team-state-title

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[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

If the rule is no celebrating, then don't celebrate.

 

[Rudi]

Such a joke. Fuck that rule. The kid was excited he potentially just won his team a STATE CHAMPIONSHIP let him show a little emotion.

 

[ThunderHorse]

I think it's garbage.

if you're going to make that a penalty, don't nullify the touchdown, penalize them on the kickoff.

 

[dj_morton]

Agree on the kickoff penalty...he stuck his hand up in the air for 2 seconds...it's not like he Prime Time high stepped.

 

[MrBill]

Bad calls are the norm in high school football. We were watching my wife's old high school play for the MS state championship on ESPN3 over the weekend and they lost the game because of a bad call. The last play of the game, Petal attempts a 43 yard FG to win the game. As the ball is snapped, a kid from Olive Branch jumps offside making no contact with an offensive player. The kick is good. The officials huddle and decide that it is a dead ball foul and that Petal doesn't have the option to decline. They move the ball and the next FG is missed. The next day, the front page of the local sports page calls out that the Referee for the game is from Oak Grove, Petal's biggest rival and one of the teams they beat to get to the championship game.

 

[killgod]

The rule is no celebrating, fine.

No reason to nullify the TD at all though, definitely on the kickoff.

 

[dj_morton]

Too many games decided by refs/umps these days...shit needs to change

 

[DSpydr84]

Anybody else notice what a shitty read that was by the QB?

Love High School defensive ends...

 

[ralaw]

It's interesting that it seems we hear about these sorts of calls every year. In the end I think the calls are a bit too much, as school officials are going overboard with their distaste for any form of player celebration. Its interesting though that the culture of football is different from other sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, etc, because in those sports you see a lot of player celebration on the highschool level, yet in football in garners a bunch of severe penalties.

I blame Terrell Owens and Ochocinco, as their celebrations became so gimmicky it really turned a lot of people off from celebrations as a whole.

 

[Houston]

Must have been an awkward bus ride home.

 

[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

I don't get how people can blame the official.. it's not like he made up the rule. Merely called it.

It's in the rulebooks, it's not allowed to celebrate while scoring/after scoring. If anything, coaches shoulda been on top of this shit coaching their guys up, keeping their boys composed.

 

[Splugeon]

I don't get how people can blame the official.. it's not like he made up the rule. Merely called it.

It's in the rulebooks, it's not allowed to celebrate while scoring/after scoring. If anything, coaches shoulda been on top of this shit coaching their guys up, keeping their boys composed.

Totally can't blame the ref for his judgement on what a celebration is and what a celebration is not. You're right. Everyone should ALWAYS obey and NEVER question any sort of rule...keep it going. Clown.
:niggaplease:

 

[JOHNNYTHECLOWN]

Totally can't blame the ref for his judgement on what a celebration is and what a celebration is not. You're right. Everyone should ALWAYS obey and NEVER question any sort of rule...keep it going. Clown.
:niggaplease:

It's not that hard to interpert a celebration.

Did something good happen? Yes.
Did player react in a fashion that could be construed as celebrating? Yes.

Throw the Flag.

 

[Splugeon]

It's not that hard to interpert a celebration.

Did something good happen? Yes.
Did player react in a fashion that could be construed as celebrating? Yes.

Throw the Flag.

That's right, don't ever leave room for interpretation, we wouldn't want to be able to change the rules, even though we changed them FROM allowing celebrations TO not allowing them. Why can it not work the other way around? It's the same concept of refusing to question the legitimacy of laws solely because they're laws - you lose freedom when you increase the amount of rules and are not allowed to question them.

You should really remember that this is a game, and it's for entertainment/self-fulfillment purposes for both audience and participants alike. Taking out celebrations - ESPECIALLY for high school kids - is like saying, "While you are on the field, you must dominate your own human instincts to the point of removing any sort of emotional, knee-jerk reaction to any situation, regardless of the excitement level of said situation."

You wouldn't see any rules banning the showing of disappointment or anger, would you? Why the FUCK would you have one banning any show of JOY or HAPPINESS?? It makes no sense, and those who disagree are insanely confused.

:troll: trolled by logic, son :troll:

 

[EmpireWF]

So change the rules now that the season is over.

The rule was in the books, no celebrating while scoring. The kid made an honest mistake but it's not the refs fault. He did his job.

 

[Bear Pand]

Sportsmanship is overrated, especially when it's taken to extremes like this.

 

[Maestro]

His hand wasn't even in the air for a full second. The rule is BS and the call was BS. The ref could have used a little discretion. Just like in the NBA playoffs, when it gets to crunch time refs let some fouls go and just let the players decide it. So let the players decide it here. He was excited and threw his hand up for a little bit of time. It's not like he threw it up, waved it around, pointed at an opposing player and told him to suck it.

 

[Splugeon]

His hand wasn't even in the air for a full second. The rule is BS and the call was BS. The ref could have used a little discretion. Just like in the NBA playoffs, when it gets to crunch time refs let some fouls go and just let the players decide it. So let the players decide it here. He was excited and threw his hand up for a little bit of time. It's not like he threw it up, waved it around, pointed at an opposing player and told him to suck it.

Exactly, you can't just mindlessly enforce 'rules', even if they may seem black and white. There is room for interpretation, and this ref (and anyone who defends taking FUN out of GAMES) is really off-base. It's ridiculous. AND it's a kid. AND they took away the touchdown (which is just double fucked). This kid could legitimately develop a drinking problem TONIGHT and never stop until his liver explodes at 29. There comes a point when games must be games. This kid's life is in danger. Do not murder this child. That ref attempted murder on camera. He must be hanged!

 

[EmpireWF]

Exactly, you can't just mindlessly enforce 'rules', even if they may seem black and white. There is room for interpretation, and this ref (and anyone who defends taking FUN out of GAMES) is really off-base. It's ridiculous. AND it's a kid. AND they took away the touchdown (which is just double fucked). This kid could legitimately develop a drinking problem TONIGHT and never stop until his liver explodes at 29. There comes a point when games must be games. This kid's life is in danger. Do not murder this child. That ref attempted murder on camera. He must be hanged!

If this kid was killed by that call, the Giants got butt raped last week.

Oh well.