Missed call helped Rockhurst beat LS North. Missouri needs HS football video review | Opinion
This column is about football and bad breaks, opportunity for change, and life — which, at times, isn’t all that fair. Especially in sports.
On Nov. 17, Rockhurst High School defeated Nixa 38-14 in Missouri Class 6 quarterfinal action. The win could be considered one of the Hawklets’ biggest under fourth-year head coach Kelly Donohoe.
Things were “pretty crazy around here,” Donohoe told me a day before the big win.
It’s not as if he was under pressure to win at this football factory. But the tradition-rich Hawklets didn’t hire the former Blue Springs coach not to. Rockhurst has played in 15 state championship football games and won nine of them.
Thanks to a fortunate bounce, the Hawklets claimed their first district title since 2018 and are still alive in these state playoffs.
Last week, a blown call during a district championship game between Rockhurst and No. 1-ranked Lee’s Summit North sparked a call for instant reply for high school football in Missouri.
I say why not? Alabama, New Jersey, Texas, Minnesota and Georgia are among states that have OK’d instant replay in some contexts, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
Missouri shouldn’t waste this chance to join them.
On the play in question, video footage of the game at North I watched clearly showed the need for video review. In it, you see a football hitting the ground before a diving Rockhurst receiver corralled the pass. To anyone with vision, the errant toss was incomplete.
One official — the back judge on top of the play — got the call right. But after the officiating crew huddled to discuss a pass interference penalty on the host Broncos, the play was ruled a touchdown.
“I was told it was a touchdown the whole time,” Lee’s Summit North coach Jamar Mozee told me this week. It wasn’t.
Talk about getting home-cooked. Usually, the visitors are on the receiving end of a raw deal. And there is little debate here: The stripes messed up — big.
Coach’s frustration with incomplete changed to touchdown
“In real time, it was ruled incomplete,” Mozee said. “Then they huddled up and called it a touchdown. That was my problem. Who made that call? My frustration was with that.”
Should the Missouri State High School Activities Association at least consider the use of technology for its postseason contests like Alabama and Texas has? The answer is a resounding yes.
Heck, New Jersey and Minnesota have utilized replay during regular season games, too. Like it or not, the ability to correct an obvious wrong in real time is a matter of fair competition.
Pro and college football use it. Years ago, the NFHS allowed instant replay at the interscholastic level. However, in Missouri, there has not been any discussion on making that transition, according to MSHSAA officials I spoke with.
Cost of equipment — up to $3,000 per school — would certainly be one concern, as well as maintenance and game-day personnel to run it, I was told.
The procedures would need to accommodate a wide range of schools from Class 1 teams in rural Missouri to some of the biggest in Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield and Columbia.
Some of you may ask: Who cares? I’d say the thousands of high school football players around this state that deserve well-officiated games. And this is no knock on the hundreds of officials adjudicating these contests. In my book, without refs, the game is just a scrimmage anyway.
Being a sports official is a thankless job. But players from Lee’s Summit North deserved a better ending.
Lee’s Summit parents start petition to state association
Parents of Lee’s Summit North players calling for more accountability for game officials have a point. Nobody could fault any of them for starting a petition asking MSHSAA to mandate video review of state playoff games.
“This is not just about one game or one team; it is about ensuring fair play and accurate officiating in all high school sports across our state,” the petition reads.
I support this demand.
Side note: Anybody inclined to bad-mouth refs need to chill. If you’ve never thrown a flag, taken a yearly rules test, attended mandatory mechanics training or refreshed your skill set by attending annual camps, do you have room to talk? Nope.
To err is human. But, sheesh: In the state playoff game between Rockhurst and Lee’s Summit North, the stripes got it wrong.
This week, I spoke with coaches from Rockhurst and Lee’s Summit North. I wanted to get their take on the controversy and how to best move forward.
As you would imagine, Lee’s Summit North head coach Mozee, a college player at Oklahoma, was all for the use of instant replay.
“Why not?” he asked. “Especially in the postseason, it would be beneficial.”
Rockhurst’s Donohoe is a former quarterback at KU and a Missouri Sports Hall of Fame coach. He’s won 241 games (with only 74 losses) as a high school coach at Blue Springs and Rockhurst. In 19 years at Blue Springs, Donohoe coached in seven state title games and won four. He knows a thing or two about winning.
But over the years, Donohoe’s teams have lost a few on missed calls, he told me this week.
“My teams have been on the bad end of calls over the years,” he said. “We never blame the officials. We have always just told our teams to take the upper road and keep working hard and these things always even up in the end.”
Still, Donohoe, one of the best high school coaches in Missouri, is not a fan of instant replay at this level.
“Can’t imagine the cost and trying to figure out who is going to control that,” Donohoe said. MSHSAA would.
He added: “Sports are important in that they teach us that life isn’t always fair.” No, it isn’t.
‘Hard work doesn’t guarantee a championship’
After the disappointing loss to Rockhurst, Mozee relayed a similar message to his squad. Since 2021, Lee’s Summit North is 33-5 and has one state title game appearance (2022 Class 6 runners-up) in that span.
“In life, it doesn’t always go your way,” Mozee said. “Hard work doesn’t guarantee a championship. Sometimes things don’t seem fair. Use that to motivate you to get better.”
What did he say to nearly 170 players in the program?
“You tell them that you love them and you’re proud of them,” Mozee said.
In the days that followed, Mozee refused to offer any excuse, as any great leader of young people would do. The missed call came in the second quarter, Mozee said. The touchdown only helped tie the score at 14-all. Lee’s Summit North held a slight lead in the fourth quarter but couldn’t hold on and lost 24-21.
The officials’ ill-advised ruling had little to do with the outcome. Or did it?
“Me, as a coach, we have to go on and play and finish the game,” Mozee said. “We only got five possessions. It was a heavyweight fight. A single touchdown is a really big deal. To say it doesn’t matter, is not true. But we’re not making any excuses. We did take the lead.”
Mozee continued: “I love my players. My goal is to give them the best experience in high school football. Instant replay would help that experience. They need to change it. It would benefit everybody.”
Too bad Rockhurst’s victory over Lee’s Summit North was tarnished by such a blatant missed call.
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 10:48 AM.
