Moody Bible Institute vs Greater Lakes

This past Saturday I worked a mens soccer game at Moody Bible Institute. I arrived to the school at about 12pm. The game didn't start until 3 but I had a 10 game at Lyons Township High School so I was already close to the city and there was no point in driving all the way home to just turn back around to the city. I waited in the athletic department building for my crew to arrive.  While I was waiting, I started talking to a couple students that both attend Moody and work in the athletic building. One of them asked me a lot of questions about being a ref and how it all worked. I asked Nicole, the girl I met that worked there, what it was like to go to Moody. How she liked it, what she didn't like and so on. I had a good conversation with her. She said that she loved the city and Moody, mostly because she grew up in the city and is use to it. Nicole was a great help (and also very pretty). Haha. At about 2:30, my crew showed up and we went out to the field. When I started to get close to midfield, I noticed something strange. Great Lakes had a Co-Ed team! Never in my 3 years as a NISOA(college) referee and 7 years as a high school referee, have I seen a Co-Ed team at this level. The keeper for Greater Lakes told me that the reason they had a Co-Ed team is because of Title IX. Greater Lakes doesn't offer a womens program. That is something that is almost unheard of. The two women on the team didnt play until 19 minutes left to play in the entire game. I think they should've have had more time to play, especially since their team lost 11-1. Greater Lakes didn't score until the final minute of the game. The whole game, even though was a blow out, was still relatively exciting. There were a few fouls here and there but nothing too major. After the game, I drove home, which took over an hour because the traffic in the city is terrible and ridiculous. Once I got home, I just laid down, grabbed a bite to eat and relaxed. It was a long day, since I had to do games all day long.

Wheaton Academy Homecoming Game 2010

Recently I was assigned to work the Wheaton Academy homecoming game against Wheaton North this past Friday, October 8. It was an excellent game. With a final score of 1-0, Wheaton Academy won their homecoming game. Originally when I received the game from my assignor, I was scheduled to be an AR(assistant referee), for those of you who don't know what an AR is, it is a linesmen. However, the person who was supposed to do the middle for the game didn't want to do it, so he had me do the middle. It was very exciting and surprisingly made me slightly nervous. I wasn't nervous about doing the game. I mean, I've been an official for about 8 years and have done hundreds of games of all different age level and skill level ranges. So the game itself would not be a problem. The thing that was making me nervous was the fact that there were at least 200 people at the game. Many of whom, I knew and/or knew me. I think most of it was the fact that a number of people who knew me were going to be watching every call I make, every move I made and then I would see the person later either at church or somewhere else.  Anyways, the game started out just as I thought it would. All the players were playing pretty spread out, passing the ball a lot and really just playing the ball. There was really nothing going on until about 20 minutes into the game. When the fouls started to happen. The fouls were pretty simple and nothing major. When there was about 15 minutes left in the first half, a WA attacker was dribbling the ball towards Norths goal and he had a North defender running right next to him trying to get the ball. When the players got into Norths goal box, the North defender, extended his arm and pushed the WA player off the ball. My AR was correctly positioned and I was positioned perfectly right behind both players running behind them to see the foul. I blew the whistle long and hard, sprinted into the box and pointed at the penalty mark calling for a PK(Penalty Kick). Norths coach did not like my call at all but I can honestly say that I would have made the same call again and that it was the right call. WA ended up scoring off the PK making the score 1-0. The rest of the half, the mood of the game changed. WA seemed to be a little antsy and North pretty anxious to score a goal and tie the game.  With about 9 minutes to go in the half, a WA player, on a dead ball situation, who was also the captain wasn't liking how I was "missing" fouls against himself and his team. I was already calling the game appropriately. I was calling the fouls both ways when I saw a foul. The WA player told me to start making the right calls. I immediately cautioned him and sent him off the field. There was only one more caution that half. It was for foul language and it was against North's player #19.

The second half started out just like it did in the first half. I didn't called a foul for the first 6 minutes which is ok. Its not great but not terrible and its expected that there would be fouls. The game continued with no major problems until about 10 minutes into the half. North took a shot on goal and the WA keeper jumped into the air to catch the ball. He got the ball but at the same time a North player ran into the WA keeper hard and knocked him down. I blew the whistle, stopped the time and cautioned the North player for a tactical foul. I called about 10 fouls for the second half. North kept up a good fight almost scored a few times. But missed.  As the game went on, the players were getting noticeably more tired. They were fouling more often and committing stupid fouls. With only a few minutes left to play in the game, #19 committed a tackling foul at midfield. I blew the whistle for the foul. #19 got up and swore. Now, if you remember earlier, #19 already got a caution in the first half for language. As soon as I heard him swear, I stopped the clock, pulled out my yellow card, and called #19 over to me. Instead of coming over to me, he walked away and said something that started with an "f" and ended with a "uck" but it wasn't Fire Truck. He directed that word towards me. Once he said that, I reached into my back pocket, grabbed my red card and carded him. Threw him out of the game. I could've given him a "soft" yellow, which would've allowed his team to put a substitute on for him but I gave him a hard red which prevented that from happening.  The game ended and WA won the game. After the game, players from both teams came up to myself and my ARs and congratulated us on a good game. But not all of the North players came up to me. One player in particular, #21, visibly came up to both of my ARs, shook their hand, and audibly told them great game. He intentionally didn't come up to me and congratulate me.  I admit, I got a little upset about the rudeness and unsporting behavior of the player but I just wrote a report about it and sent it to North and the IHSA. Normally, when a report is written, one copy automatically gets sent to the IHSA and another gets sent to the AD of the school and Principal.

Overall, I was very happy with this game. Yes, there were some difficulties but it was a very well played game. Both teams came out to play the game which was great. Bring on the higher level games!