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Carlos had not received a "hard red" card prior to the Summerville game. His other was two yellow cards against Stratford. I think ref would have been more than justified to caution both players,but that red cards were totally uncalled for as no punches were thrown. I hope this situation will be carefully reviewed by SCHSL if suspensions are to be inforced, as neither player misbehaved in my opinion. There has been some talk of spitting by the S'ville player, if so, I didn't see it, and I was only a few yards away behind the HH bench.

He also recived a double yellow at HH aginst WA. He is a good player but he does have a temper and if he can not control himself any better than that, then he only hurts his team. That makes 2 "soft reds" and 1 stright red. I think he is looking at 2-4 games at least. Also you might note that if HH continues to get red cards they could be faceing probation and that is not what this team needs.. I hope that they can pull themselves together and everyone play great soccer for the rest of the season. I look forward to watching both teams play in the playoffs. Best of Luck!

Apparently, "soft reds" are still considered ejections by the League. I had to play without a starter Friday night because of a "soft red" on Tuesday. There was no notice from the League and after calling and getting no response, my AD said she was ok to play, but someone (I'll refrain from speculating who) said something to an official Friday night before the game, who came over to "suggest" that the report was just late getting filed and that playing her would be a violation of her next-game suspension if the report was turned in.

Anyway, by that definition, two "softs" and a "hard" red makes three ejections...if they all actually got turned in, HSL says ineligible for the remainder of the school year in all sports.

It's a shame sometimes that the opinion (and in the case of cards, it is often very much opinion more than fact) of one person can have such long-reaching effects on not only a single athlete but on the whole program--especially since the people voicing these opinions seem to be the only ones involved in the sport whose actions are not subject to official scrutiny.

Anyway, obviously a great game by both teams--I hope the events of that night don't have that long-reaching effect on either team. Nothing like dragging out the region title suspense just a little longer, anyway--that's the kind of stuff that sells tickets!

The two yelllows for Carlos were against West Ashley, not Stratford. That was the only time this year prior to Friday he was ejected, so Friday night makes two. After the West Ashley game, I was told by our head ref for our region that a soft red did not carry a suspension and was not reported to the high school league. By the way, the only game Hilton Head had a problem in at all was the West Ashley. The Seahawks play hard, but clean. If Carlos is suspended for even one game based on what happened Friday, it is a serious injustice. He should not have been carded for the first incidence nor even called for a foul. I saw the play and watched it again on film. The second incidence I have already spoken about. I am all for my actions on the field as a ref being reviewed if necessary. None of us are above making mistakes. We do the best we can, and some do better than others, but I am not threatened by review. The only way I can learn from my mistakes is to be informed about them, especially in the matter of red cards and ejections. I know the official files a report, but I wonder if coaches and other parties or film is consulted to get a clear picture from all sides what happened. I'm sure I saw the events differently than the ref. I know that point of view is VERY important. I think this is an instant that hindsight (20-20) could be very beneficial to all concerned.

No disrespect toward officials was meant by anything I said...I know most officials would be very comfortable under scrutiny. All of us (coaches, players, and officials) could benefit from a little constructive criticism sometimes. In my experience, nobody else is consulted...the attitude I seem to get is that if anyone else has input that doesn't involve close-up film footage, nobody really wants to hear it. I could be wrong.

I need to look into the matter of the "soft red" a little deeper, though; it seems what you were told by your head ref was the opposite of what I was told by the official Friday night. I'd hate to think I sat out a starter who could have made a difference based on misinformation from an official who was obviously approached by another party who didn't want that player in the game. Whew...follow all that?

Anyway, it seems these are two very talented young men in question, and it would be a shame for their seasons to be so affected by a questionable card. Depends largely on the "soft red" ruling...if it's the first recorded offense, one game. If it's the second, two weeks. Wonder if Spring Break counts as a week? Anyway, best of luck to both players and both teams...playoffs should be VERY interesting this year.

I'd really like to see a replay of that pk. My gut feeling said it was a pk. The defender clearly pushed the attacker down to the ground and prevented him from playing the ball with the keeper and another defender tangled up. I've seen penalties called for less than that.
If I wanted to rob HH, I wasn't going to wait for the last second to do it.
I don't know about the rivalry going on. I don't know stats or who is in what position or what records the teams have prior to the game. Nor do I care. All I know is that those were two good teams and they both had their fair chances to win. If I did "suck" like somebody said (yeah, I did care to read all of y'all's postings) I sucked equally for both teams. I've always said that I'm happy if both teams are happy with me or both hate me.
I am not here to defend myself. I have no regrets. I have played this game for over 20 years. I've ref'd for 10 and I love this game, it's a part of my life. I've taken a fitness test and a laws of the game test and am a certified referee by the USSF and the NHSL. All that said, I am not perfect and I do know that I'm going to miss a call or two. Nobody is perfect. The referee is a part of this game and you just have to adjust yourself to the one refereeing our game. I disagree with the gentleman who said that I was inconsistent with my calls.
Knowing that both teams are good physical teams I decided to allow them to play physically from the start. There were some hard tackles, yes, but most of them were within the rules of the game (I am not going to call petty things or when the players are equally guilty of UB). I delt with the ones that I saw.
I know that most of you are not very familiar with the laws of the game and all of you are biased, yet I thought of giving you my perspective on some of the most desputed calls. I am sure you won't like my explanation but I am open to constructive well mannered criticism.
Let me start with James Woods from Summerville who was yellow carded for dissent. If I wanted Summerville to lose, I could have thrown him out for what he said, but I figured no one else complained so noboby heard it. I still believed I had to address it and I came back at the next stoppage and gave him a yellow card. That's when the Summerville bench exploded and it went downhill from there. But I will come back for the coaches later.
The second yellow card was for Carlos Chirinos. Anyone who sees the foul on the replay will argue that he did not deserve a yellow card for that foul. And I would AGREE. However if you observe the game closer before the yellow was issued you'd notice that both him and Gandini (the other forward) had several chalanges from the back fouling the defenders in their attempt to win the ball. Carlos especially likes to use his elbows but I'll come back for that later. So the yellow card was issued for PI (Persistent Infringement). I know the crowd maybe even the coaches did not know why he was given the card. Most importantly I don't think Carlos knew why he was given the card. I talked to him throughout the game and warned him several times. He was getting frustrated because he wasn't getting the calls his way. At halftime my ARs told me to pay attention on the diving of some of the HH players. They do dive a lot. I could have addressed that with cautions but failed to do so. The defenders played firm but fair for the most part (I guess they did adjust to the refereeing style). Carlos in his frustration was throwing elbows left and right and continued fouling. He was really close to a second yellow card. Had he received it the next ordeal would have been prevented.
In the 73rd minute after another one of his fouls the defender obviously frustrated got in his face. I can see it in slow motion right now like I saw it 10 yards away from it. He got in Chirinos'es face and I immediately dashed towards the two. I saw Carlos elbowing Matt after I had blown my whistle. By book a hit during a dead ball is a straight red. Immediatelly after that I saw Matt spitting at Chirinos as he was getting pulled away by his teammates. I was quick on the red cards as I did want to prevent a bigger fight from breaking out. Matt was obviously upset and asked why he was getting the red card. After I told him that it was for spitting, he replied "What the f*** are you talking about!?" I have put that in my report as well so to answer someone's question, I don't believe he'd be playing the rest of the season as the League does not tolerate foul language.
After the game Matt's father came and congratulated my ARs but said that his son was unjustfully ejected. After I told him why I ejected him, he said his son could have never done that. The next day I received an email from one of my ARs who know that person and he emailed him to appologize saying that his son admited that he DID spit at the other guy.
That just comes out to show how biased we all can be as fen and how differently we see the game from outside. I give that man credit for being a gentleman and appologizing to my AR.
I'd like to thank the HH coach for being a great gentleman. Not a single time had I any problems with him or his bench. I am sorry to say that that was not the case with the Summerville bench.
I do realize that a coach is entitled to support his team more so than anybody else. However not at all coast. Screaming and disputing every call will not make the referee call the game your way. And is that what you want? Will that be a game? And will you be satisfied with the win? How does that make my job any easier? I already have my hands full with 22 heated young men full of testosterone on the pitch. I regret having to deal with that coach and spending so much time on something like that. I am sorry that the spectators had to witness that scene. Next time I'd know how to deal with this the right way.
I have already discussed the penalty call. I also heard the Summerville bench yell that I owed them something after I made that call. To be honest that made me even more upset at them.
All game they had screamed at me. It is a human thing to do to react the opposite way. Why would I give them a pk if they had screamed at me all game? Why not make them pay? Could I have done it? Sure I'd already dismissed a couple of penalty claims. But I can't be like that on the field. What I personally would have done could not affect the ref in me. And the ref in me believed that that attacker was pushed and prevented from playing the ball to the open net. Did the defender do it intentionally or not does not matter. He was denied play of the ball.
So that's that.
I might not be the best referee, but I can tell you that it takes a lot of guts to call that in the last minute of play, to call what you believe you should call. Just put yourself in my shoes and you will understand. But this is who I am and I will not change to be liked. My assignor had faith in my abilities to referee. He's seen me referee and he must have thought I could handle the pressure. I did not cave in and did not call any call to please anybody.
Good luck to both teams in the future and see you on the soccer pitch.

ok thank you ref for writing that as it must have taken a lot of time...yes i am from hilton head and yes i was at that game...biased or not the PK call at the end was wrong...the defender (chris sankowski) jumped straight into the air to try and head a ball out of the penalty area..a summerville player (much smaller, like you should have seen) tried to push sankowski off of the ball but didnt have enough momentum to pull it off...the summerville player was trying to commit a foul but it just back fired and he went to the ground...if you watch the taping of the game that we have you will see that sankowski, after heading the ball out, also falls to the ground because of the player pushing on him...with the other stuff that you let "slide" in that game was much worse then that...and that is just horibble to know that a team can work so hard, not to take any thing away from summervilla, they played hard to, but HH played there hearts out and got robbed at the end on a bad call

seahawks, thats pretty pathetic that you are still blabbing about this call. im really suprised your coach let you watch the tape. Its over and done with. the game was LAST WEEK. get over it and move on. Its not going to benefit your team at all going into the playoffs talking about how you got robbed, yada yada. Take it as motivation and take it to the future teams you play.

The #1 problem for officials in my opinion. Thanks to this referee for summing it up.

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I don't know about the rivalry going on. I don't know stats or who is in what position or what records the teams have prior to the game. Nor do I care.

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