| Calhoun-Roane's Football Clash
By Gaylen Duskey
realfang@citlink.net
And now, for the "rest of the story."
The public address announcer said: "thanks for enjoying the game and drive safely going home."
Nice sentiments, surely, except for the fact it wasn't a game. It was brazen robbery by the folks who are supposed to make sure things are always on the up-and-up.
It started innocently enough a little after the midway point of the third quarter and the injured Red Devils -- remember Fluharty was out and Moore was limping badly -- clinging to a 15-6 lead.
After a punt had seemingly worked out well for the Red Devils a flag came flying in from in front of the Calhoun bench.
The penalty appeared to be against the Red Devils for players, coaches, etc., being too close to the field.
Then something apparently was said. Someone yelled "this is b.s." except it was not in the initialized form. People on the sidelines got back and one of the coaches yelled to the players: "get on the other side of the grass. Get on the track (meaning a track that runs around the outside of the field)."
But whatever happened had ramifications as Calhoun was whistled seven more times the rest of the way for a total of 95 yards. These were penalties that kept Roane drives alive and killed Calhoun drives. Roane, on the other hand, had two more penalties for a total of 15 yards.
It's not that Roane couldn't have had other penalties because at least three flags against the Raiders, including one for roughing the kicker, were waived off.
There were also more than a few non-calls when it came to Roane.
Like the one where a one-legged Moore was thrown to the ground by a Roane defender after the whistle had stopped play.
Or the one where Dillon Mefford was hammered to the ground while trying to catch a pass.
Or the one where Clark had enough black jerseys draped over his back on an attempted reception to almost look like Raider letterman.
And it was like that from the sideline brouhaha on.
In the end it took a penalty on the Red Devils to set Roane up down deep in Calhoun territory after the drive had seemingly ended with Roane failing to make a first down.
Instead the penalty kept the drive alive and Roane scored what proved to be the winning touchdown with less than a minute to play.
One cannot blame Roane, however, since the Raiders would have been foolish not to take something -- like a football game -- when it was handed to them.
With the loss Calhoun is backed into a corner where it must win all three of its remaining games to make the playoffs. This is something the Red Devils can do.
Hopefully Calhoun will not have to go through another glaringly one-sided set of calls as it did Friday.
Hopefully the Red Devils will not have this officiating crew again.
And, hopefully, those with flags and whistles will remember that this "rest of the story" version was written by an adult and not take it out on the players.
They did nothing wrong.
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