Officials needed for upcoming football season

So you think you know football?

Are you sure you know holding or pass interference when you see it? If so, it may be time to put your skills to the test.

The South Carolina Football Officials Association needs about 15 officials for the District III region, which makes up York, Chester and Lancaster counties.

As the tri-county area grows, more middle and high schools are being built. In turn, that means more officials are needed for not just Friday nights, but also middle school, ninth grade and JV games.

“We don’t have as many young officials now,” said Grey Young, a local football official entering his 10th year. “We had a lot of officials that have retired.”

Young, who is also principal at Pleasant Knoll Elementary, is one of 60 officials that make up District III. Chris Horton, District III director, said he is looking for more officials to replace those who have retired or stepped down.

“We are getting older and the guys doing it for 20 to 25 years are saying ‘I can’t keep up anymore,’ ” Horton said.

It’s not just about keeping up for most officials. With more middle and high schools being built in the tri-county area, more teams are coming into the region and officials are needed to work the expanded number of games.

“Any time a new school is built that has major impact on us officials,” Horton said.

Horton said every new middle school represents the need for eight new officials.

Both Horton and Young made it clear that being an official isn’t just grabbing a whistle and putting on the stripes. For them, football season starts this month with classroom work.

For 10 weeks, officials throughout the state go through training that includes rules and the manuals that guide them. After that, it’s another two or three weeks of on-field training calling scrimmages. They also have to take a yearly exam of 100 true/false questions. Horton and Young agree the test is more difficult than anyone might imagine.

“You can memorize the rule book, but taking it on the field is totally different story,” Horton said. “Friday nights are earned.”

Horton said those hoping to become officials need to know they won’t be covering the big games right away. Officials are graded based on a rating system, which also includes how they do on the annual exam. The higher the score, the more 3A-5A games they are assigned.

It is also not a stretch for many rookie officials to officiate recreational league games before moving up the ranks.

It took Young seven years to get to the 3A and higher level of games. For him, there were a lot of long drives to little towns like McBee and Chesterfield to call games.

“It is a brotherhood,” Young said. “We try to make each other better.”

And if you think you may get to one day officiate your alma mater, that isn’t going to happen. Officials in the area can’t call high school games on Friday night if either of the teams are schools they graduated from or are in the attendance zone where they currently reside. For example, Young is a 1996 graduate of Fort Mill High and lives in the Nation Ford High attendance zone. Thus, you won’t see him officiating any Falcons or Jackets varsity games.

Horton said high school officiating can lead to bigger things. Two District III officials have moved on to the NFL and several into the college ranks. Horton said you can’t officiate college until you have officiated high school and the same goes with the NFL. You can’t go to the NFL until you have officiated in college and even then, it’s still a process.

“You don’t call them, they call you,” Horton said, of the NFL.

For more information or to sign up for training, call Horton at 803-448-1707 or email chorton1@comporium.net.

This story was originally published April 25, 2016 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Officials needed for upcoming football season."