"Many with high political ties were also there," Central coach Telly Lockette said.
That’s what happens when ESPN cameras show for a nationally televised game, in this case the Rockets, ranked No. 2 in the country, against perennial national power and Dade County and Miami rival Northwestern.
Corporate sponsors got involved, too.
Gatorade sent down its first-ever National Player of the Year, Jeff George, to walk the sideline and promote 25 years of service to preps. Nike doled out dollars to sport Northwestern with spanking-new, neon-yellow throwback jerseys.
"We’ve been involved with some hyped-upped games before," Lockette said. "But never this much hype."
So, imagine the horror when the tweets began. Not the social networking computer-generated sorts, but the blowing-into-the-whistle-by-referees kind.
Tweet! Tweet-tweet! Tweet! Tweet-tweet! Tweet!
They wouldn’t stop. One penalty after another after another after another was called.
The Rockets were whistled for 25 of them for 178 yards. Northwestern had an even dozen called and two touchdowns were nullified.
The game, pitting upwards of 20 Division I athletes, with speed to ignite a bonfire, sputtered like a 1978 Chevy Vega. Forget the fact Northwestern scored 20 unanswered second-half points to score a 22-14 victory; for Lockette, the nightmare was the incessant whistles.
"It was really like, ‘Oh my God, we waited all this time for this one moment and here we can’t even get off snaps,’" he said. "I honestly felt like trying to find the nearest hiding spot to hide."
Don’t feel bad, coach. It happens. And lately it’s happened plenty with the large lens of national and regional TV cameras focused.
Northwestern coach Billy Rolle had two TDs called back.
Photo by Lou Novick
The week before that, on ESPN2, Lakeland (Fla.) was whistled 17 times for 145 yards in a 31-30 overtime victory over host De La Salle (Concord, Calif.), which had 14 flags for 120 yards last week in a Comcast regionally televised 28-21 win over Monte Vista (Danville, Calif.).
All the yellow hankies have contributed to three-hour plus contests and hindered otherwise fantastic action.
So what gives? Is the added exposure just too much for teens to handle?
Rashid Ghazi, a partner with Paragon Marketing Group that teams with ESPN to organize nationally televised games, says absolutely not. He helped arrange the first major high school sporting event on the cable giant nine years ago – a St. Vincent-St. Mary’s (Akron, Ohio) basketball game featuring LeBron James – and has contributed to the growing prep football coverage, which includes a season-high 21 broadcasts in 2009.
There are five more games scheduled this season.
"In terms of well-played, close, clean games and overall picture, this has by and large been our best season," Ghazi said. "The Central (Northwestern) game was an aberration."
He pointed to several other clean games including Don Bosco Prep (N.J.) over Prattville (Ala.) 35-24, Elder (Ohio) over Colerain (Ohio) 20-7, Oaks Christian (Calif.) over Skyline (Wash.) 28-25, Aquinas over Byrnes and Carroll (Kan.) over Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Kan.) 36-34 as more typical broadcast contests.
"(Penalty-filled) games are going to happen," Ghazi said. "They happen in the NFL and college, too. The (Central-Northwestern) game settled down in the second half and had a great, close finish."
Being a rivalry game and played at a new site likely contributed to the 37 penalties called in the game, Ghazi said. As did the fact that Central was ranked in the top 10 for the first time and favored over established Northwestern.
Those were factors Lockette acknowledged as well. He wouldn’t acknowledge growing talk that his team or football in Southern Florida is undisciplined.
"That’s crazy talk," he said. "We played great football at this school and in this area and history shows that. Our coaches are out here every day preaching it and coaching discipline.
"The problem was that we had not been exposed to the big stage like that. All eyes were on us and we were definitely over-anxious."
But so, quite frankly, were the referees, Lockette said. He admitted that most of the penalties were legitimate, but "like everyone else, some referees want their 15 minutes of fame. Many of those calls were just redundant. It took away from the true essence of the game. At some point you have to let the kids play."
Dave Cutaia, a well-respected referee and assignor for the Contra Costa Football Association in Northern California, has heard the same complaints often over the years. He heard them especially after Lakeland was barraged with second-quarter holding calls (four) in the win over De La Salle. Cutaia didn’t work the game, but assigned the crews for both penalty-filled De La Salle games.
He said the Lakeland game featured a current Big Sky Conference and retired Pac-10 official and two others who worked California State Bowl Games. That’s from a five-person crew.
"From all my reports, the fouls were there," Cutaia said. "It’s really unfortunate. Nobody likes fouls or foul-filled games, especially the officials. We hear we need to let the kids play, but we can’t let them play if they’re being taken down illegally."
As far as referees wanting to be a greater part of the game or seen on national television, Cutaia said: "I just don’t believe that. Officials at any level react right or wrong immediately to what they see on the field whether the game is on TV or not. The kids deserve that."
De La Salle defensive coordinator Terry Eidson said he prefers TV games because "we’ll get the best refereeing.
"I don’t think refs are over-anxious in TV games at all," he said. "In fact, I think they’re on the top of their game because there are replays and they don’t want to blow a call with everyone watching."
Eidson said competition, not cameras, are a greater reason for all the penalties in televised games.
"The TV games are usually great matchups," he said. "The teams are more athletic and more evenly matched. The kids feel the anticipation and pressure from that, as well. That, along with the TV, puts extra stress on the kids, which can lead to stress and penalties."
Is it too much stress? None of the coaches think so. It’s part of competition and dealing with a modern world, Lockette said. Though he wanted to run and hide, he said playing on national television was a great learning experience.
"It was a great opportunity for our kids to be seen, a chance to play on TV and give them some good exposure," he said. "I see the whole thing as a plus."
Ghazi said the recent penalty-filled games won’t hurt his promotion for high school games in the future. The homespun Friday Night Lights feel along with a college football crowd wanting to see their future standouts easily combats any sloppy, heavy-hanky TV contest.
"High school sports on TV is still finding its niche, but it’s definitely out there," he said. "It’s small compared to college football and tiny compared to the NFL, but there is definitely a target audience. There is definitely a growing market."
Ghazi is already planning next year’s programming. He said Central is definitely a team he’d still consider.
"We’d love another shot," Lockette said. "Next time, we’d do much better."
E-mail Mitch Stepehens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
