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Yes, the Pinewood coach, and the players were a class act, and played a very good, for the most part clean game.

Eric, and his two sidekicks Lynol and Frank on the other hand...were not the best referees I've ever witnessed. It concerns me that the reason i know their names, is the fact that every pinewood player/fan/coach referred to them as such, and asked them for calls. I wouldn't say they favored either team, they seemed to be just overall bad, slow, and old. But the way that they affected ben lippen was on the red card. On a break away, and Pinewood player is caught by a ben lippen player who supposedly pulled his jersey (he may have, i'd have to see a tape or something). The player proceeded to fall down, and hold his leg and side, and cry. The ref yells play on, and they do for 2 minutes, when eric finally sees frank's flag and blows his whistle. he walks over to the ref, then walks over and red cards 12 without saying a word or questioning frank.

That might possibly be my longest post ever, sorry.

Overall great spirited game, I don't blame the refs, they were bad both ways, and were EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL. But I agree with what Dain Bramage said about control, and the shots were 7-6 in favor of ben lippen. The Pinewood goal was outstanding, there was nothing the keeper could have possibly done to prevent it.

benp - you don't know the history of PW and the center ref you call "Eric". In the not too distant past he was blackballed from reffing at PW.

All regions in the state have the same problem of not having enough certified refs. Though it shouldn't be a problem with only a handful of playoff games, the ref assigned to center the game did not show up (so I heard, I don't have first hand knowledge of that). Thankfully "Eric" was available and the game did not have to be played with two refs.

Benp,
I understand you're not blaming the refs. You have spoken before about attending certification clinics and such. Have you read the 4 D's position paper concerning denying a goal scoring opportunity? Once read, you'll agree the red card issued was the right call. From my position, similar angle to the center referee, I couldn't see the foul either. Fortunately, there was a 3-man crew, and the AR was in the position to see the foul, and had the guts to call it. (number of defenders, distance to goal, distance to ball, and direction of play)

As for the first name basis of some of the refs. As Dain points out, some of the refs have refereed multiple times at PW, and some of the parents of PW players are referees and work with these same guys at other HS and youth matches.

Like you, I've seen better referee jobs, but the refs didn't really impact the game.

It was a good game, and I look forward to several more years of good games between us.

Please point out where i said that a foul preventing a goal scoring opportunity doesn't result in a red card. I never questioned the card, nor did I say that it WASN'T a foul, I just said that they way they went about it was unproffesional, the center was 70 and sucked and deserved to be "Blackballed" from pinewood. I also said that I didn't see a foul, but would need a video to be certain.

Benp,

"But the way that they affected ben lippen was on the red card."

They, in reference to the crew, affected ben lippen...could be read that your implication was that it was inappropriate. If I misread, sorry.

I didn't intend my response to turn into a debate, because I agree, the crew didn't have a good night. But, that one, they got right. Procedurally, the confusion was caused by the play on, then subsequent reversing the decision. Is that what you're calling unproffesional?

I knew as soon as it happened that it would be discussed today.

Yes, among other poor signals, being way out of position, and not being able to explain things (but trying) I know they aren't required to answer when a coach asks what that call is for. But they tried to answer, and couldn't back up their calls. And, maybe i didn't express my opinion well. But I was trying to say that they affected ben lippen by giving a red card, not that the red card isn't the correct call for the supposed foul, but whether the foul was truly a foul. By some of the best center referees i have ever worked with i have been told that as a linesman, if you want me to give a card or a pk, you better be @#$% sure that it deserves it and you better be thinking o my ... i can't believe he just did that.

Like I said, i'm not denying the foul, but like you, I didn't have a great angle on it, and people were certainly falling all night without being touched due to the wet slippery grass. What is done is done though, and ben lippen may not have won with justin in the back, or they may have, we won't ever know, but I can at least pull for pinewood to prove that they are worthy of being in the final by winning.