There's tough love and then, there is one tough call.
Photo by Dave Arnold
Matt Owens finally broke free
in this Super Bowl game but was
called for unsportsmanlike
conduct for raising a clenched
hand.
A referee called
Cathedral (Boston, Mass.) quarterback Matt Owens for unsportsmanlike conduct for clenching his left hand and raising it to the sky while racing for a possible game-winning touchdowns against
Blue Hills RVT (Canton, Mass.) in a 4A Super Bowl at Bentley University on Saturday.
According to the
Boston Herald, Owens had sprinted past a couple defenders and had an open path to the end zone with less than 20 yards to go and 6:11 remaining that would have put Cathedral up 18-16.
But when he showed emotion, the flag was thrown and the ball spotted back to the 24. Owens was intercepted on the next play, and Cathedral lost 16-14.
Cathedral coach Duane Sigsbury appeared quite pointed and controlled when he put it this way: "If you are going to take a game away from a kid being excited because he just made the play of his life shame on you."
The assigner for the official's organization said his man made the right call: "It's tough, but the official absolutely made the right call according to the letter of the law." Joe Cacciatore said told the Boston Herald. "It says it right there in the rules that any attempt to draw attention to yourself, whether it is pointing the finger, raising a fist or anything like that, is a penalty."
We're guessing the cheerleaders weren't leading "three cheers for the 'letter of the law!' "